Pleasantly nostalgic, blissfully romantic, thoughtfully sens
J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 05/27/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Playing Time - 48:53 -- Besides being their fifth album, "Stories" is also a tenth anniversary musical celebration for Oregon-based Misty River, a quartet of women whose marketing catchphrase accurately promotes their "compelling voices of acoustic Americana." Meeting at bluegrass jams and open mics back in 1997, the still unsigned band began performing full-time and touring cross-country about 2000 in their motor home named Annabelle. It's just a matter of time before a national label like Rounder Records or Sugar Hill takes note of their potential and musicianship of Dana Abel (accordion), Carol Harley (guitar, banjo), Chris Kokesh (fiddle), and Laura Quigley (bass). Produced by Todd Phillips, he mixes in some percussion on five tracks.
Besides their four well-blended vocals, Misty River has a number of other strengths - impressive songwriting, unique covers, poignant arrangements, and enticing understated instrumentation that all lend immediacy to their story songs. The emotional depth on "Stories" is drawn out of ballads about people, places, memories, and just plain ol' life in general in a song like Carol Harley's "Life is Good." Or take Dana Abel's lively "Slice of Life," for instance. The characters encountered on Portland city bus #36 include "tired folks, wired folks and those in between." Dana also wrote music for "Louisa" based on a poem by Alice Anne Martineau. While there are many versions of the traditional "Barbara Ellen," Misty River's melancholic rendition has a hard-hearted edge brought home by the fiddle after the rose and briar tie their post-mortem true love's knot. Each beautiful song offers its own observations about human experiences, attitudes, or beliefs.
Popular for the last few decades in China, a dreamy "Gan Lan Shu (The Olive Tree)" has Chris and Dana singing nostalgically in Chinese about a hometown far away. The leanest singer/songwriter fare is Chris Kokesh's solo self-penned "Time Goes By," accompanied only by her guitar. "I cut the pieces from my memory / All tired out and worn I have held them so many times But now they're heavy in my arms." Perhaps a little harmony on the chorus would've embellished the arrangement. Drawing upon material from another brilliant songwriter, Steve Young's "Old Memories (Man Nothing To Me)" has a similar theme of time passing and flying by. I wonder if the girls learned the song from Del McCoury's 1992 cover of it. Or if they picked up Daniel Lanois' "Black Hawk" from Emmy Lou's Wrecking Ball album that he produced. Regardless of how Misty River finds their material, their radiant "Stories" album shows that they are graceful interpreters who can be pleasantly nostalgic, blissfully romantic, or thoughtfully sensual. The soothing melody-driven result is Misty River's charming je ne sais quoi. Full of imagination and imagery, the album takes us on journey. Even though the road is long and slow, these four women keep right on rolling and always remembering and calling for a watchful eye over their friends and fans along the way. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now rossjoe [at] hotmail dot com)
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Track Listings (14) - Disc #1