CD Odyssey Disc 1716: Dori Freeman

Happy Leap Year! I don’t know why getting one extra day every four years is so whimsical and fun but…it is.

Maybe it is fitting that the other three albums by this next artist were reviewed within a year of their release but this next one took seven before I finally rolled it. Was there some leap year magic involved? Let’s say there was.

Disc 1716 is…Letters Never Read

Artist: Dori Freeman

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? Dori Freeman swings us an ‘over the shoulder’ for consideration. I hope that tile behind her is kitchen tile, because otherwise this picture was taken in the bathroom. Privacy please!

How I Came To Know It: I loved Freeman’s first album and was excited to hear the follow up. I would not be disappointed.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Dori Freeman albums which I thought was all of them, but in preparing to do this review I discovered she’d released something in 2023. D’oh! I must get this record! However, rules are rules and rules say when I’m done what’s currently in my collection I do a recap. So here it is. I’ll do another after I locate the new record and (hopefully) like it enough to buy it.

1. Self-Titled: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 947)
2. Letters Never Read: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Every Single Star: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1367)
4. Ten Thousand Roses: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1554)

 Rating: 5 stars

 Apparently no one told Dori Freeman about the sophomore slump, because her second record is just as wonderful as her first. ”Letters Never Read” doesn’t have that “undiscovered talent” thrill of her debut, but it has all the same charm, with an extra shot of confidence to boot.

It all starts with her voice. Her tone is as pure and sweet as anything in my collection, displaying all kinds of range without ever straining. It flows out of her so easy and naturally that you may not even notice how good it is, until you try to sing along and realize you can’t keep up. She can go low or high with equally rich tone, and she can hit a note with a smooth calm, or a trembling quaver with equal ability.

On “Letters Never Read” she has an added element of confidence in her delivery. The songs aren’t as raw as on her debut, but hearing that certainty of purpose gives you another facet to her delivery that makes the new record its own creature, a natural and welcome growth of her talent. You won’t sing along not just because it’s hard, but because you’d just rather hear her do it.

Freeman pairs that vocal prowess with a songwriting talent that is second to none. Lyrically, these songs are filled with simple words and minimal metaphor, but an honesty so deep and fragile that the simple phrasing will sink deep inside you.

Melodically, she writes with a meandering lilt. The songs themselves rarely exceed three minutes, but they feel like a river, undulating through a course that they’ve carved over millennia. The tunes are a perfectly crafted course; over in a hurry and leaving you wanting more, but knowing they said all they had to say in those too-brief moments.

“Letters Never Read” is a who’s who of folk royalty, old and new. Aoife O’Donovan sings harmony, as do Canadian duo Kacy & Clayton. She also enlists the talents of father and son folk heroes Richard and Teddy Thompson.

Most of the songs are originals, but like any good traditional folk record, she’s not afraid to tackle a classic. In this case it is the aforementioned elder Thompson’s 1974 tune with wife Linda, “I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight”. I love the original but if I’m keeping it real, Freeman’s is better.

Heartwarmingly, she also does an acapella performance of a song written by…her grandfather. It is “Ern and Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog” and it tells of two young lovers getting home late from the movies and having to elude the neighbourhood’s ill-mannered dog along the way. It’s a great tune, and a good example of how Freeman is solidly grounded in both the traditions of the genre but also her personal experience.

This combination of traditional and intensely personal make this record as perfect as her debut. A bit lighter, and a bit warmer around the edges, but just as overflowing with inspirational music.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1511: Kacy & Clayton

Over the weekend my friend Casey remarked, “don’t be petty, be Tom Petty.” Seemed like pretty good advice to me. However, if you can’t find it in yourself to be one of the greatest American songwriters in history, just make sure you manage the other half of the statement.

Disc 1511 is….  Strange Country

Artist: Kacy & Clayton

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? Kacy and Clayton stand on a large rock. The dirt is red, but does this country really qualify as “strange”? “Likely to stain your jeans” I’ll grant you, but I think “strange” is a stretch.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Kacy and Clayton through their 2019 album, “Carrying On”. That caused me to dig into their back catalogue, and this is one of the records I decided…to not get. But then I found myself in the record store without my list and decided to give it a chance anyway.

Shopping for records is a lot like groceries – if you go without a list, you’re sure to pick up something you don’t need.  

How It Stacks Up: Not counting their recent collaboration with Marlon Williams (which I see as separate) I have two Kacy & Clayton albums: this one and the aforementioned “Carrying On.” I must assume “Carrying On” is better, as I didn’t like this one very much.

I have two other albums of theirs on my “to get” music grocery list, but they’ve been on there for a while, so I think I’ll give them another listen just to make sure.

Ratings: 2 stars

Kacy & Clayton are a Saskatchewan duo that have all the qualities of a band I should love. Simple folk music, singing tales of ordinary folk with a backdrop of minimalist production. Despite all this, it did not turn out well.

I think if I had somehow heard this record back in the early nineties I would’ve been more favourably disposed. Back then, I was heavily into ‘pure’ folk music. No contemporary sounds of any kind, thank you very much, and certainly no pop! I delved into the artists on traditionalist record label Green Linnett, sometimes picking them based on how many songs were in Gaelic (note – you couldn’t try records out on Youtube or Spotify back then – leading to all kinds of selection methods as arbitrary as that one, or worse).

Anyway, the singsong and high soprano vocals of Kacy Anderson is exactly the sort of thing you’d hear on Green Linnett. Anderson has a beautiful voice. It is light and pure like a Speyside whiskey.

The problem is that since then I’ve drifted to preferring a bit more peat in my Scotch, musically speaking. Here I found her vocals too pure, and while the songs tell many a traditional tale of tragedy and woe (as one expects from these kinds of tunes) I wanted a more grit in delivery. On my one other K&C album the production is a bit more complex, and it provides a counterbalance to Kacy’s singing. Here, she is on an island unto herself, and you either soar with her or she loses you in the high notes. More often it was the latter.

There are some standout moments on the record. The title track has a busker-style thump and strum to the guitar that fills it with energy, and the melody is well suited to the vocals. I felt like I was taking in an intimate show at some small outdoor concert venue.

“Brunswick Stew” is gloriously dark, as it tells the story of a young woman who gets pregnant out of wedlock, and to hide her shame sneaks out one night to the river and drowns the child as it is born. It is the kind of dark stuff you expect from 400-year-old folk ballads despite being a K&C original. They do a great job of capturing the timeless quality of these old traditional numbers. The song is grim, yes, but it is high quality grim.

Other than these two bright spots, (and some bonus points for cheekily naming the last track “Dyin Bed Maker”) I rarely felt drawn in or emotionally connected to the music. I kept wanting more of the thump of the title track, or the creep factor of “Brunswick Stew” and not getting it.

Objectively, this record is good, and I know from my continuing quest for more Kacy & Clayton albums that I like what they are going for. However, the heart wants what it wants. And so I’ll pass this along to someone who will appreciate it more than I did.

Best tracks: Strange Country, Brunswick Stew