Gretchen Peters - Blackbirds

thought i'd bring this dark-as-hell albumout of the rolling country thread bc it's quite something

war veteran ptsd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOTIjSWTTcs

hurricanes and oil slicks and death in louisiana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrhF7CxnMFQ

"i'm covered up in dirt and i stink of kerosene / and no matter what i do i can't get clean"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5hIn569qMQ

I was perplexed this got no love there, as its miles away my favorite Nashville-related album of 2015.

Ohhhh, this is nice - tyvm.

Hi. Sanpaku, if you mean it got no love on Rolling Country, it did just recently (been out a while, yeah)

Gretchen Peters, Blackbirds:
Maybe especially this time of year, some days are just naturally darker than others, and this album can help them slide in there a little darker still, without overdoing it. Although the title track comes a little close, with violence getting more physical "I stink of kerosene" etc---in a way the other songs don't seem to bother with (although it's more about the immediate overall effect, so who knows yet), as they usually track bad (self- and other) love through the woods, and "that green suburban plain" at least one citizen is zoning on. Not country- or folk-rock, although there's usually an electric guitar and/or drums among the otherwise acoustic combo, usually with medium-to-brisk tempos, not much decoration, and steady rhythms building nicely, like on "Black Ribbons," co-written and background sung by Matraca Berg and Suzy Bogguss, her fellow members of Wine Women & Song.
Ballad-wise, sounds like she's been listening to Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, but not too much; for instance, I've never heard anything quite like the beautiful death spiral skywriting of "Pretty Things"---heard the musical pattern before, maybe, occasionally, but not with this kind of storyline.
Good duet with Jimmy LaFave, too, and the only cover, "Nashville"--as written and performed, a cogent swirl of memory, anticipation and apprehension---makes me want to check out the writer, David Mead, and has me thinking even more that several of these would fit Nashville, as did Season 2's "How You Learn To Live Alone," the one she wrote with Mary Gauthier.

― dow, Monday, November 9, 2015 2:47 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess there's a *bit* of folk- and/or country rock in there sometimes, when the electric guitar takes a solo.

― dow, Monday, November 9, 2015 2:53 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for that recommendation, sounds good

― niels, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 2:53 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

holy shit that gretchen peters record is incredible and intense

― lex pretend, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 6:01 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Sounds a little too folk-rock for me on my first listen to about 4 songs...

Will try again