I hinted at this album getting much of my attention during the DBT #262 Memphis post, and it has only grown in listens since. As I write these reviews to make me slow down and listen and research the artist better, this stunning music cried to me to make it the next review. So let's start with the album notes:
Singer/songwriter Kelly Hunt’s new album, OZARK SYMPHONY, is the fruit of her many journeys. The songs tell universal stories of life’s peaks and valleys with stories set again a backdrop of the prairie, mountains, and river delta spanning the Midwest and deep South, all of which intimately shaped the contours of her life. Taken as a whole, the album establishes Hunt as a vital voice Americana music, standing shoulder to shoulder with a long line of Southern songwriter/poets including Lucinda Williams, Pierce Pettis, and Nanci Griffith.
Ok Pierce Pettis and Nanci Griffith are to me songwriter legends.
For Hunt, making OZARK SYMPHONY was a journey in and of itself, one which led her to producer Dirk Powell and his Cypress House studio in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. Powell, whose musical pedigree runs deep in Celtic, Cajun and old-time music, drew from across a diverse community of musicians in the US and UK, to cultivate a sonic landscape around the album’s 12 tracks which brought the OZARK SYMPHONY vividly to life.
Hill music at it's finest, and hill people are where the best of Americana music comes from. As I mentioned in #262, I found the album in the October Best Country in BC Blog post, plus I feasted and tasted the some of the others. Kelly's was the only one I found that I was loving every song I sampled, and I don't think I'm alone when I see her album is getting Folk Radio airplay. Yes that number two spot is a favorite I reviewed back in #244; and you know that I'm overly interested in Cat Power singing Dylan. Frankly there are great artists on this list that I almost consider too big to get a review. (yes I love to give more unknown artist free pub than the stars.)
Of course it wouldn't be a review if I didn't find someone else's review to link, and Folk Alley is a great credible source; "Hunt’s vocals draw us in like a siren calling from rough seas, asking us not to dash ourselves on the rocks but to find shelter in her soothing tones."
I'd say they liked it; so here we go:
1) Ozark Symphony
The crash of the clawhammer banjo chord starts us off for a 5 minute journey. The liner notes tell us that it "features Natalie Haas on cello, which was born on a twilight drive through the stretch of Ozarks and Hunt says “Somehow that phrase seems to embody the spirit of the story I’ve set out to tell while also expressing, in a broader sense, the way I see myself and the music I make.”
Kelly tells us,
I wrote an Ozark Symphony
I put my words in the mouths of the birds to sing
I taught the wind the part of my own heartstrings
I taught the mountains to resound your name
How about a stripped down version? Dang NPR, wake up and give her a tiny desk concert.
2) You Make me High
With all the states with legal cannabis, Kelly just needs her love in one of my favorite songs on the album. Of course you know I'm sucker for a duet and Dirk Powell plays triple duty with the accordion and baritone electric guitar also credited to him. (of course he's also the producer)
You’re like a shot gone to my brain I get close to you, I get carried away You make me high
This video is only 3 months old, and I love her band she's pulled together to tour.
3) On the Bayou
Oh just start swaying in your chair already, I do believe that the things they say are true; and they are shining down on Kelly and this song. The chorus stands up as a great earworn with all famous folk songs, I love it.
You can have Taylor Swift & Beyonce ... This woman rules the bayou and my heart.
4) Everybody Knows
Oh know everybody doesn't know yet, that's why I feel compelled to write that a sweet song like this should be heard.
5) Evangeline
A song named this almost makes me want to see if a playlist for Evangeline would fill up a playlist like Angeline did. The liner notes described this stripped down masterpiece as "The track “Evangeline” is a thematic centerpiece of the album. It is a dramatic reimagining of the Acadian Evangeline story—a folktale inspired by true events and immortalized by the 19th century Longfellow poem."
6) What About Now?
At track six I'm thinking about now I've already paid for the album with these gems, and they go and add another duet with gentle blues guitar picking.
7) Top of the World
The banjo is back as Kelly looks down from the top of the world.
Many times I write these posts by first listening only to the songs, and I'm grateful because if I first watched this I would have filled the review with how I absolutely have fallen in love with this woman and she could transport me to the mountains anytime. The video ties in with the cover, so it's great to see it come alive. Ok Dave, back to the music.
8) Lost Highway
This song moves you down the highway with say a brisker beat. "I know, I know I know..." is tastefully done as a great hook.
9) Take Me Back to Memphis
I already gave this great song a lot of love in Edition #262, and now you might enjoy the contrast that the brass brings into the mix of this album; still great songwriting and Kelly's voice is so clear and you can the hear the fun and smile coming right through the mic.
One more time to post this four year old video.
10) My Own Civil War
A touch of Celtic remorse.
It’s a swift calculation, and it doesn’t add up But hard is the heart that is desperate in love Blind to the world, and deaf to the voice of reason And enslaved is the mind to the will of the heart It rattles its cage, and it heaves at the bars And it screams in its rage through the feathers and tar “Oh, I’m caught in my own civil war”
11) Be Still
A tune that could be a traditional Irish lament for the Appalachians highlighted by a few pipes.
12) Over the Mountain
The liner notes describes this goose bump song as
"The album closes with the song “Over the Mountain” which Hunt wrote on a gorgeous summer morning on her way to a funeral. She explains that it was a charged moment—equal parts grief and gratitude, beauty and sadness—and she was reminded of something a friend’s grandmother used to say: “There’s a comin’, there’s a goin’.” On their first meeting, Powell made an impromptu recording of Hunt singing the song by a cave that was a ritual site for Native Americans, just as dusk was falling and the cicadas struck up their chorus. He later spliced this live version into the studio track, ending the album with a veritable Ozark symphony, as timeless and true as the mountains themselves. "
Of course this three part harmony is so sweet and reminds me I need to listen to Emily Scott Robinson "Old Gods" again. (oh wait... I'm doing that right now as I finish typing this review)
Right... If someone does find more videos of Kelly doing the songs above; let me know I'll want to add them. I am definitely following this wonderful musician and hoping she puts her back catalog recordings in Bandcamp too. Maybe now that she's with Compass Records that's a problem. Dang labels, love the small guys working hard for the upcoming artists and Compass isn't too bad of a label they at least put their artists on Bandcamp. Plus, they hired Kelly so they have great tastes.
Next steps:
- Stop over to the Review page to my other most spinned and loved albums.
- Browse the rest of the blogs by stopping at this "Theme Page."
- Enjoy Tune Tuesday which brings you one song from a past blog post.
- See what other post have been most popular recently with our Stats Page.
- Find out who in the world thinks he has the authority to write this blog in the About.
- Let me answer why you won't find the playlists on Spotify here.
- Finally, the Mission page explains why there is no advertising cluttering the page.
If you use Facebook, we have a page that will help you remember to read the next post.
You could always decide to feed my music addiction and donate to the cause. If you did, I will spend it only on music and even will buy the music you recommend if you tell me to. Here's a Paypal donate button
