Probably best known as the leader of American folk/roots band ‘Donna the Buffalo’, Tara Nevins has proved herself to be a versatile and creative force on the traditional American music scene over the past few decades.
This new album sees her exploring the US roots singer/songwriter genre, its music and an approach that has a timeless feel, think artists such as Diana Jones and Caroline Herring, but Tara approaches it with a fuller band sound.
Produced by Larry Campbell, the finest of all the US producers, you’d expect it to sound great - and it doesn’t disappoint! Campbell adds a whole host of instrumentation to the album, and Tara is joined by a stellar cast of musicians including Levon Helm, Allison Moorer, Jim Lauderdale and Byron Issacs. Her own fiddle and accordion tops off a perfectly balanced collection of musicians and instrumentation.
Even with the strength of the group, it’s her vocals that steal the show; where the arrangements are contemporary, the delivery of the songs form a genuine link to the landscape and characters that the songs focus on. Her vocals have a timeless quality that could easily have delivered a song in traditional American music anytime in the past 100 years. Here she uses it to present 13 songs of which 10 are her own, and the quality and range of her writing is impressive from genuinely emotional rich songs in ‘Snowbird’ and ‘Tennessee River’, through to dryly delivery wit and wisdom of ‘You’re Still Driving that Truck’, and it finishes with a well-judged cover of Van Morrison’s ‘The Beauty of Days Gone By’.
‘Wood and Stone’ is a classic modern American roots album, broad strokes on the people and places on the American landscape, presented by a heartfelt singer and a first class band – it’s a stunning album with real depth. Not to be missed.
Track listing
1 Wood And Stone
2 All I Ever Needed
3 You've Got It All
4 You're Still Driving That Truck
5 Who Would You Tell
6 Snowbird
7 Nothing Really
8 What Money Cannot Buy
9 The Wrong Side
10 Stars Fell On Alabama
11 Down South Blues
12 Tennessee River
13 Beauty Of Days Gone By
review 15 June 2011
