Stoll Vaughan's warm, inviting voice wraps around a listener like the presence of a much-loved, cherished friend and confidant. Its tone is imbued and worn by life's experiences, revealing someone who's bruised but not broken, still aching but OK. Sometimes.
The Kentucky native's music is stripped down, rooted in the country/folk/blues fusion we call Americana. It swells majestically when saturated with Vaughan's storyteller's voice, which rings with yearning and passion. The poetic lyrics reveal truths gained from experience; at times, recalling Joni Mitchell's intimacy and lyrical incisiveness and Loretta Lynn's plain-spoken directness. His delivery has also the truth-telling conviction that typified Johnny Cash's best work. It's like we're eavesdropping on a man's conversations, his internal dialogue and struggles or reading an emotionally raw diary that cuts through the BS, right to the bone of his truth.
On his recently-released fourth album, Desires Shape (Commonwealth Artist), Vaughan captures the I'm OK/I'm not OK reality of a breakup, nowhere more believably than on the bone-chilling "Weather in Kentucky": Snow falls on the pines/And softly finds its place/Covers up the way you feel/Until it melts away. And there's this: The good things that we are/Always carry on/So when I think of you here's the truth/I'm glad that you've been gone.
Happiness is something to be fought for ... it is not without struggle. On "Put It Back Together," a couple comes back from the brink: Failure drives the driven man/To face the things he doesn't understand. Making the effort to understand bears insight: You put it back together/And you will love like you have never loved before.
Perhaps the album's finest song, "So Righteous," speaks of love as it touches the bigger picture of social/political realities: Born together we've been torn apart/Something must break just to change our hearts/River's rising and it won't be long/The dam is weak and we'll be dead and gone.
There's a depth of intelligence in the writing and the singing that should touch anyone who loves great songwriting. Vaughan is in a rarefied class of writers, including John Prine, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard and Mitchell. Maybe Fiona Apple, too. It is the work of a man who apparently has studied himself and his actions/reactions and, clear-eyed, recognizes there's still work to be done as he navigates the sometimes rocky emotional landscapes of relationships with lovers, friends and himself. This all plays out in a simple setting of guitar, piano and harmonica that supports the singer and his songs beautifully. His struggles can feel like our own.
You may not have heard of Vaughan, but he has toured with John Mellencamp, James McMurtry and Marty Stuart; his music has been featured on TV series including True Blood, Friday Night Lights and The Office. Vaughan has also worked with the Allman Betts Band on their debut album and its forthcoming follow-up.
According to his website, Vaughan says his new album's title is about "being in a continual conversation regarding people, God, and the fears we carry around — and how music interplays with everything emotionally and spiritually."
All that plays well on Desires Shape's remarkable songs and Vaughan's magnetic voice. This is an album to savor and study and experience again and again.
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• Secret Sisters, Saturn Return (New West). Southern Gothic/noir, a retro vibe and country gospel influences fill the music of the wonderful new album by the Alabama-based Secret Sisters, real-life sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers. Saturn Return is their second album with producer Brandi Carlile.
"Fair" is a lean folk song that might sound like vintage Greenwich Village during the '50s and early '60s, but listen closer: it's not as simple as it might seem. The wonderful "Silver," with its English/Celtic music-sounding story of a woman realizing she's going gray (Look upon your mother and the silver in her hair/consider it a crown the holiest may wear), starts as a bit of a lament and turns into a defiant anthem about ageism. The popish and appealing "Nowhere Baby" hints at a Stevie Nicks vibe, while the rich "Healer in the Sky" is loaded with symbolism and wisdom. The moody and somber "Water Witch" unsettles as it draws the listener into its spell. The dreamy "Hand Over My Heart" also charms.
The harmonies are exquisite and haunting. These new songs were written and recorded during a time when both women became mothers and both of their grandmothers died, which naturally leads to the bittersweet tinge one feels here and there.
The Secret Sisters shouldn't be a secret to anyone who loves music filled with heart and emotion.
• Joe Ely, Love in the Midst of Mayhem (Smith Entertainment). Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely, who released one of rock's most invigorating concert recordings, Live Shots, in 1980, is an outlaw country pioneer and much-respected songwriter. This digital-only release consists of previously unfinished songs that Ely completed in the studio in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a news release, Ely said "When putting together an album, I typically try to go with a story. This time I went with feeling. I see people out of work, out of food, and I see medical workers and others on the front lines putting their lives in danger every day. I also see the beauty of the human spirit at work too. The time was right."
These 10 songs, mostly dealing with love and compassion for our fellow beings, resonate with our times. There is a sense of urgency here that encourages people come together and turn their fears into something positive, which underpins this remarkably coherent set.
Among the standouts are 1980's moving "Cry," the hopeful "Soon All Your Sorrows Will Be Gone" from the 1970s and more recent tunes, including "A Man and His Dog" and "You Can Rely on Me." Nine are Ely originals; the 10th is co-written with his Flatlanders colleagues Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock.
• The musical joys of being on Instagram are many, including postings by Patti Smith (@thisispattismith) with poetry readings, the occasional song and her engaging writing; the boundless energy of Brandi Carlile (@brandicarlile) and her many projects; the soulful Margo Price (@MissMargoPrice) and the inimitable Tanya Tucker (@thetanyatucker). Be careful searching out there, though. There's a flock of fraudsters using various forms of their names.
The always engaging Valerie June (@thevaleriejune) outdid herself recently. Sitting outdoors near a stream and playing her guitar, she talked about the country classic "A Satisfied Mind" and how much she loved Porter Wagoner's version. Then she sang it and my heart melted. Can't wait for a new album from this gifted singer ... and her next 'Gram post.
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Style on 04/26/2020