CD Odyssey Disc 1380: Matt Patershuk

It has been a hard week for me and my circle of friends, as on Monday we all collectively said our goodbyes to our dear and close friend, Karen Wipond.

Moments after she passed, I was walking to meet up with my friend (and Karen’s partner) Nick, focusing hard on keeping it together. I decided that listening to some CD Odyssey related album in that moment was too much and went with the rarely used “random all” setting on my MP3 player. It holds around 17,000 songs and the one that came on first? Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me”.

When I did find it within myself to get back to the Odyssey, the randomly selected album was this next one by Matt Patershuk. An album that, like the Bill Withers tune, was exactly the sentiment that needed expressing.

Disc 1380 is…. I Was So Fond of You

Artist: Matt Patershuk

Year of Release: 2016

What’s up with the Cover? A Giant Head Cover. In this case the Giant Head was painted by Patershuk’s sister, Clare, who was killed by a drunk driver on the Canada Day weekend of 2013. No jokes about the Giant Head this time.

How I Came To Know It: I read about Patershuk in a Canadian folk music magazine called Penguin Eggs. I think it was the album after this one, but I got here by drilling backward.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Matt Patershuk albums now. Of the four, “I Was So Fond of You” is #1. And that’s saying something, because Matt Patershuk records are consistently excellent.

Ratings: 4 stars

Whew. Tough week, but Matt Patershuk was just what Dr. Music prescribed; a gentle collection of narrative gems glugging out bittersweet songs at the crossroads of folk and country, like a tipped over bottle of bourbon.

Patershuk has a voice that was built to make a room quiet without ever yelling. He just seems the type that when he speaks, people listen. When he sings it’s even better. His baritone is smooth and full and within the first couple of lines it sinks you deep into whatever story Patershuk is telling.

The record additionally benefits from the backing vocals of Ana Egge. Regular readers will know my love for Egge’s solo work, but it was her efforts on Patershuk’s records that discovered her to me in the first place. She sings in what I think is the same key as Patershuk, only one octave higher (I could be wrong, I’m not good at that sort of thing). Whatever she’s doing, it is perfect, coming in on the most poignant parts of the song and adding a sting of folksy sweetness on top of Patershuk’s rustic, country troubadour style delivery.

The record has plenty of sad moments, notably the title track, which is an ode to Patershuk’s dead sister, Clare. It was hard to listen to this song this week, but it was also therapeutic. Patershuk is sad, but he’s also grateful for the great memories. It is a good perspective, and worth internalizing. The song is the most raw and honest on the record, delivered with an ambling gait that gives it a traditional western feel.

Patershuk reserves his deeper darkness for the fictional parts of the record, such as “Harviestown” in which the narrator plans to exact vigilante justice on a ne’er-do-well who murdered a loved one. The additional tragedy of the story is caught in Patershuk’s complex portrait of his character. Not a murderer by nature, just a simple man who in his grief can’t see any other way to get justice:

“Well, I’m goin’ down to Harviestown

To do what must be done

And I’m gonna use my two bare hands

I won’t need that gun.

“Well I try to be a better man

I need his blood here on my hands

I know it’ll take a piece of me

But I must do it if I can.”

Even in his resolution, the “if I can” implies the man is not inclined to violence, and aware he is not built for suck black acts. It gives the song a human touch and ending with those lines, an uncertain outcome.

The album is replete with standout narratives like this, including a wonderful song about a World War Two veteran who finds solace from the memories of conflict in music on “Little Guitar.” “Pep the Cat Murdering Dog” is a lighthearted semi-factual account of a dog sentenced to life in prison in 1924 by a warden for purportedly murdering the cat of the warden’s wife.

The album ends with “Tennessee Walker” a love letter to a horse. The song has a jump in the rhythm that made me want to line dance or two-step or any of those other western dances I can’t do that look like a lot of fun. The song also features a tip of the hat to Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road, with Earle’s big black Dodge lines converted back to original horsepower:

“Well I still remember that rumblin’ sound

All four feet coming off the ground.”

And a couple well-placed shouts of “hep!” shouts a la Earle for good measure. Halfway through the song when Ana Egge’s vocals come in with some call-and-answer action, the song is elevated from pleasant memory to pure joy.

Ultimately “Tennessee Walker” is another memory of sister Clare; this time of her favourite horse. Her memory is laced through the record, and while her death looms large in Patershuk’s writing, her life looms even larger, bringing resolve and comfort without ever feeling trite or false. Like I said earlier; it was just what I needed.

Best tracks: Prettiest Ones, Smoke a Little Cigarette, Harviestown, I Was So Fond Of You, , Little Guitar, Pep the Cat Murdering Dog, Tennessee Walker

CD Odyssey Disc 1373: Ana Egge (with the Stray Birds)

It is my birthday week, and I’ve celebrated by both a) taking some time off and b) buying a bunch of music. I might’ve overdone it a bit, with 10 new albums either in my possession or winging their way to me as I type this.

I’ll talk about those albums when I randomly roll them for a review. And speaking of the Odyssey’s dice gods, they have been noticeably favouring this next artist a lot. This is the third review of her in the last 27 albums and the fourth in the last 75.

Disc 1373 is…. Bright Shadow

Artist: Ana Egge

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Only one of the best Giant Head covers ever. Ana Egge has created a still life out of her own profile, replete with all manner of flora and fauna. My favourite detail is the cat peering out from her neck.

How I Came To Know It: I knew Ana Egge through a Matt Patershuk album where she did some guest vocals. However, this album was of particular interest for me because she made it with another of my favourite bands, the Stray Birds. Finding it was damned hard, and I eventually located it through Amazon a few months ago. I use Amazon as a last resort but I really wanted this album, and so I succumbed to Jeff Bezos’ charms. “Never again!” I thundered after clicking “purchase,” knowing deep down I’d probably give in again down the road.

How It Stacks Up: I am still on the lookout for two more Ana Egge albums, but currently I own only four. “Bright Shadow” comes in at #1. In addition, this is now my last Ana Egge record (so far) and so here’s a recap:

1. Bright Shadow: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
2. Bad Blood: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1347)
3. Road to My Love: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1302)
4. Lazy Days: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1345)

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

On every album, Ana Egge puts a little bit of a different spin on her contemporary folk stylings. On previous reviews I’ve noted her crossover into indie, radio pop and good old rock and roll. “Bright Shadow” is Egge’s nod to bluegrass. The album drips with folksy intimacy and jumps with a bluegrass beat. Somewhere in between the two, magic happens.

It helps to have the Stray Birds as a backing band. If you haven’t heard of these guys before you should correct the error. In the meantime, let me give you a bit of a teaser: they are three of the finest bluegrass players in America. Egge is no slouch on guitar herself, and when you add in Maya De Vitry (fiddle, banjo), Charles Muench (upright bass) and Oliver Craven (mandolin, fiddle, slide guitar) you get an embarrassing surfeit of talent. While I partially regretted not being treated to Maya De Vitry’s lead vocals, her contributions to the harmonies and backing tracks provide just enough to leave you wanting more.

Besides, Egge’s voice is plenty strong enough. If anything, she reaches her greatest heights on this record, blending world weary romanticism with a sweet and resonant tone that has you hanging on her every word.

The Stray Birds’ bluegrass and Egge’s more contemporary stylings marry perfectly on “Flat Top Guitar” a song about an old guitar and the happy memories of all those who have played it, from long-distant county fairs to the more recent efforts of some neighbourhood kid. It’s a fanciful notion, but if you’ve ever listened to a well-worn guitar’s tone, it is easy to believe it remembers its lifetime of notes and chords.

On the bluegrass side of the dial, we are treated to a reimagining of a traditional fiddle tune with “Jenny Run Away”, and a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Wildflowers” which – dare I say – I liked better than the original. Both tunes showcase the Stray Birds’ skill once again.

On the more contemporary side, the title track is a delightful exploration of the wild and the beautiful. This song will have your soul lilting gently up and out of your chest but don’t worry, it’ll feel good. The hymn-like “Rock Me (Divine Mother)” immediately follows to coo and comfort that soul back down again and into a state of alert restfulness. And as for “Turning Away”? Well, that’s a song that’ll break your heart into a million pieces in just 2:39, and leave you glad it happened. Sadness was never so sublime.

The album ends with “The Ballad of Jean Genet”, a gorgeous character study of the French writer. I’ve never read any Genet, but if his stuff is half as sad and beautiful as the Ana Egge song that memorializes him, I’m looking forward to the opportunity.

In terms of production, bluegrass – with its inherent bent toward egalitarianism – tends to create exactly the sound I like most. Egge produces the record herself, and keeps everything even in the mix, with lots of space to let the brilliance of the individual players shine through.

My only gripe with this record is that it is only 28 minutes long. I listened to it four times today and while I never got tired of it, I did regret there not being more to it. As problems go, wishing your record wouldn’t end isn’t a bad one to have.

Best tracks: Flat Top Guitar, Jenny Run Away, Bright Shadow, Rock Me (Divine Mother), Wildflowers, Turning Away, the Ballad of Jean Genet

CD Odyssey Disc 1347: Ana Egge

For the second time in three albums I’ve rolled an Ana Egge album. What are the odds of this happening, you ask? Well, there were three Ana Egge albums in the “new to me” section of my CD shelves, out of 91 albums total. So the odds of getting one the first time would be 1/30.3. On the second roll, there would only be two left out of 90 albums, so 1/45. So you multiply 30.3 x 45 and you get…1 in 1,363.5. I think that’s how it works.

Anyway, math isn’t nearly as fun as music, so let’s move on.

Disc 1347 is…Bad Blood

Artist: Ana Egge

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Ana Egge sports a funky jacket that I would totally buy for myself if given the chance. Check out that sleeve detail! Sure, it’s a bit big on her, but still a significant improvement over the tank top featured on “Road to My Love” (reviewed back at Disc 1302).

Egge is also standing in the middle of the road, but it looks like a low traffic area, so it’s probably low risk.

How I Came to Know It: I just talked about this (discovered via Alberta folk singer Matt Patershuk, etc. – go look it up). In the specific case of “Bad Blood” I broke down and ordered it through Amazon. I am not proud of this. It was hard to find, sure, but I regret not buying it through her Bandcamp site.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Ana Egge albums and “Bad Blood” comes in at #2, edging out “Road to My Love”.

Ratings: 4 stars

Ana Egge is a contemporary folk musician, but there is a lot of movement and crossover with that generic designation. Over her career she has taken full advantage of this range, and it’s a good thing; if she didn’t, I’d have a lot less to say so soon after reviewing “Lazy Days”.

“Lazy Days” is a very different record from “Bad Blood.” The former is a moody bit of pastoral whimsy, whereas the latter is a mix of gritty folk tales, with a noticeable snarl of rock and roll guitar around the edges.

Part of this comes from the influence of the record’s producer, Steve Earle. Earle does a great job of giving the record a bit of jump and attitude, balancing off nicely against Egge’s natural sweet vocal style. She was already plenty tough, but Earle brings an extra layer of grit out of her performance. He also brings along the talents of the Dukes (and also the Duchesses, as this is from a happier time in his life, when he was still with fellow folkster Allison Moorer).

Another difference is that “Lazy Days” was all covers, while Egge writes almost all these songs. The single exception is Charlie Rich’s “There Won’t Be Anymore.” It is solid enough, although I prefer the original and it felt a bit out of place. Sure, it’s romantically dark, but this record gets its dark on for real.

The album’s best moments feature Egge’s original compositions. She is a gifted songwriter both melodically and lyrically. “Bad Blood” is an apt title for the record, which explores a lot of dark characters and subjects. She wisely lets a bit of the Duke and Duchess grit sneak into these songs, but not so much to take away from the natural beauty of her vocals.

In fact, a couple of the better tracks, “Hole in Your Halo” and “Evil” both benefit from a stripped-down approach that makes their topics all the more haunting.

“Hole in Your Halo” is the story of a person who’s made a litany of bad choices, and is now sitting in prison, and running out of friends. Egge’s narrator is one of the few left, and it’s clear she has no answers:

“Like a storm brewin’ in an empty room

I stopped trying to keep my eye on you

Speak of the devil and he will come

Up inside the minds of the ones you love.”

On “Evil” she follows the theme deeper, starting with callous murder, ending in the threat of an impending rape. Throughout the chorus asks why, and finds no answers:

“Evil simple as a rose

Evil by any other name

Evil simple as a rose.”

Egge also takes a turn at some American folklore. “Silver Heels” reinvents the story of the dancer of the same name: a Colorado legend of the old west. Egge sets the story instead at the end of the First World War, and swaps in influenza for smallpox. The song churns along with an easy gallop that is as good as anything similar Steve Earle ever wrote, which is saying something. While I’ve already quoted Egge twice, a record this consistently good demands at least one more:

“Waitin’ outside in the powder of the moonlight

Across the ocean wide the boys from the front line

And the Spanish flu broke out like a gunfight.”

That is some delicious stuff, heavy with ominous portents of death, as a community fears the moon, and survives the war, only to be cut down by simple illness.

Egge ends on a high note, which is not uncommon on depressing and death-ridden records like this. “Your Voice Convinces Me” is a return to hope and promise, with an anthemic rise that despite all the violence, murder and catastrophe you’ve been reveling in up to this point, suggests things will be OK. Or if not OK, at least we’ll bear it together.

“Bad Blood” combines rough and sweet in just the right measure and as the album’s title suggests, there will be bleeding. Some of it out in the open, and some internal to the soul, but all of it combining to make a great record full of dark and beautiful music.

Best tracks: Hole In Your Halo, Bad Blood, Evil, Shadow Fall, Silver Heels, Your Voice Convinces Me

CD Odyssey Disc 1345: Ana Egge

2020 is shaping up to be a great year for live shows. I’ve already been to two (David Francey and the Beaches) and I’ve got five more on tap. I could tell you who they are, but why spoil the surprise?

I’d love to see this next artist live, and wouldn’t you know it, she’s in Seattle next Saturday. I can’t swing that, so I comfort myself with the knowledge that she was only the opening act. Instead, we’ll all have to settle for this album review.

Disc 1345 is…Lazy Days

Artist: Ana Egge

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? There is something comforting about lying down in tall grass in the summertime, but maybe not in bare feet. Too many bugs.

How I Came to Know It: I discovered Ana Egge through her work as a backup singer on a Matt Patershuk album. “Lazy Days” was just me digging through her back catalogue and buying every album I could get my hands on once I was hooked on her solo stuff.

How It Stacks Up: When I last reviewed an Ana Egge album I only had two of them, but I’ve since doubled that number. I’m still on the lookout for two more but of the four I have, “Lazy Days” comes in at #4. Hey, something had to be last.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Lazy Days” was exactly what I needed – a record full of relaxing songs about summer just when I was getting fatigued from all the cold and rain of the Canadian winter. The sun even came out today, and I couldn’t help but think it was the universe tipping its hat to this happy sun-drenched record.

“Lazy Days” is that rarest of beasts – a folk concept album. In this case, it is an entire record of songs about the lazy days of summer and generally doing as little as possible. It sounds like a lot of repetition, but here you can’t get too much of a good thing.

That good thing is Egge’s gorgeous vocal performance; sweet, full and heavy in the air like the scent of a hundred blooming cherry trees, but without all the pollen that might make your eyes water.

I was grooving along to all of these songs when halfway through I recognized the Belle and Sebastian song “Summer Wastin’”. At first I thought it was the only cover on the album only to discover reading the liner notes that…the whole record consists of covers.

Turns out Egge has combed through her knowledge of rock, folk and alternative music and found 10 lazy summer songs spanning many decades, all of which fit together like they were made for each other. I’m embarrassed to say I wouldn’t have known any of the others without looking, but the album features songs originally by artists as disparate as the Kinks, Stephen Stills, Arcade Fire and Gene Autry.

It is a testament to Egge’s skill as an artist that she blends all the songs so seamlessly that you think they are all hers. I’d have thought the same of “Summer Wastin’”, except that I knew the song already.

I checked out a few of the originals and Egge consistently gives them a treatment that is equal to the original or better. Early returns were so good I even braved the original “In the Backseat” by Arcade Fire on YouTube. I usually can’t stand Arcade Fire, and in its original form that was true again. I’ll give Egge credit, though. Her version was pleasant to listen to, and getting me to appreciate Arcade Fire in any incarnation is no easy task.

While the arrangements vary from song to song, Egge turns them all toward contemporary folk interpretations. When she does ‘rock out’ it tends to get in the way of the song. This is particularly true for the Le Tigre cover “Much Finer,” which features a groovy bass line, but some not-so-groovy squawk-box shouts in the background.

Fortunately, Egge mostly finds the songs bones and clings close to them, letting the melody draw that sweet voice along like a river, low in late summer, meandering slow through a field. And while she lets the songs work their magic, the record isn’t completely stripped bare of production. There are layers here, but the layers serve to just make the song feel full and slow.

On “Lazy Days” Egge pays homage to the summer holidays, and she misses no opportunity to press that feeling home. The lyrics, vocals and arrangements combine to give you a full soak in the delicious experience of doing nothing. It may not be my favourite of her records, but it was just the warm hug I needed on a cold winter’s day.

Best tracks: Sitting in the Midday Sun, Johnny’s Garden, It’s My Lazy Day, Wastin’ My Time

CD Odyssey Disc 1302: Ana Egge

Greetings, gentle readers! My apologies for my long absence. I’ve had a busy week. That busyness has not ended (in fact, I took today off just to make sure I had time to get everything done) but I’m taking a break to keep the Odyssey moving.

Over the course of the week I have listened exclusively to this new record. This amounts to somewhere between eight and ten listens. I can’t say exactly how many because as Dirty Harry Callahan would say, “to tell the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost count myself.”

What I did rediscover is the joy of giving a record a deep, immersive dive – the kind you do when you only own 20 records instead of 2,000.

Alright then, let’s see what all this languorous fuss is about. Then it is back to chores!

Disc 1302 is… Road to My Love

Artist: Ana Egge

Year of Release: 2009

What’s up with the Cover? Ana, chillin’ out in a tank top. Ana looks kind of handy in this photo. Like she could just as easily fix your motorcycle as sing you some folk songs.

How I Came to Know It: I was listening to an album by Canadian folk singer Matt Patershuk (2017’s “Same As I Ever Have Been,” reviewed back at Disc 1234) and I kept hearing this great female voice singing backup and harmony. I looked in the liner notes and discovered it was Ana Egge. It turned out she is far more well-known than Patershuk (sorry Matt).

How It Stacks Up:  Egge has 10 studio albums. I have two of them and I’m on the lookout for four more (they’re devilishly hard to find). Of the two I have, I’ll put “Road to My Love” in second.

Ratings: 4 stars

My media player has gotten a lot more creative recently with how it categorizes music, adding judgy phrases like “old school” to my early rap music, and occasionally throwing up its digital hands with “miscellaneous” when sufficiently flummoxed with all the musical crossover of the modern world.

Labels are an annoyance anyway, because music is music and should be taken on its own merits every time, but we music critics sometimes apply them anyway because…well, hell, they save time.

For “Road to My Love,” the labelers in my media player went with “contemporary folk” and for this record, it is a pretty helpful start. Egge’s music has its roots in folk music, but there is a steady stream of pop music present in the melodies, the instrumentation and the production. I wanted all these pop sensibilities to annoy my purist tendencies, but try as I might, I couldn’t get upset. Egge just does too good of a job of marrying the styles into something uniquely her own.

The effect is the earthiness of folk music, set in a warm and ambient bath of pop. It smooths out the edges that I was sometimes hopeful to hear, but it also lets the journey feel contemplative and relaxed. It soaks in a bit slower, but you get the feeling you’re in the presence of an old soul, taking her time to tell you a story or two.

Folk music is very much about storytelling, and Egge tells some good ones here. The one that always stands out is “Bully of New York” a character study of someone who works as a Park Ranger in New York’s Central Park. My only other cultural encounter with the Central Park Rangers is as villains at the end of the Christmas movie “Elf” and it was great to have Egge humanize them, through a chance encounter with one of them who gave her a ride one day. This ranger is a decent man, resigned to his role doing tasks like:

“I lock up the playgrounds, here in the park

I am the bully of New York

It’s getting’ dark – so I turn the keys

The kids all think I’m bein’ mean”.

His late hours contribute to his divorce, and while he’s a sad man in a lonely job, Egge paints him with kindness, and reminds us that deep down we’re all just people in need of love.

The ‘contemporary’ songs are also strong, including the opening track “Storm Comin’” which has an up-tempo beat that makes you want to do a little head bobbing at the back of bus. I may have succumbed once or twice. I regret nothing.

Egge mixes the styles together on the sultry longing of “The Sea Around You” which matches an introspective folksy charm with the plaintive cry of electric guitar. As she does throughout the record, Egge sings with a mix of breath and sweetness. Her phrasing generates emotional energy on intimate admissions like:

“I dreamt of something I shouldn’t do last night

I want too, I still might. I still might.”

You get to hear a lot of different guitar styles as well. “Red Queen” features a very light acoustic strum, and on her cover of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” she plays a stripped-down Delta blues slide style.

There are a lot of different treatments on “Road to My Love” and there were times where it felt a bit too atmospheric, but I found that over time I came to forgive the odd bit of horn or smooth jazz lurking around the edges of the songs.

All that extra time with the record definitely helped. On my first three listens I probably would have given it 3 stars, but in the end it climbed up to 4. If your wondering if this is why a lot of records you played the hell out of back when you only had 20 seem “better” than something new you’ve had less time with, the answer is yes. And that’s OK – it doesn’t make the love less real.

Best tracks: Storm Comin’, The Bully of New York, The Sea Around You, Farmer’s Daughter, New Tattoo, Red Queen