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Austin American Statesman
Brian T. Atkinson
February 28, 2008
Four Star Review
The sour certainty of a lover's infidelity often slips a murder ballad's trigger. Caroline Herring chooses to measure unconditional love's disintegration instead. "I confessed that, for love's sake, I drowned my children in John D. Long Lake," the Atlanta-based songwriter sings on "Paper Gown." "They're with Jesus, looking down at me in this paper gown." True story: That's Susan Smith deteriorating underneath the weight of a malevolent Carolina moon. Herring flawlessly reports the grisly material. Presented with corresponding degrees of damnation and empathy, her watertight assessment of the 1994 American tragedy would be a crowning achievement for most artists. On "Lantana" - an embarrassment of riches drawing the straightest line between tradition and transition this side of Adrienne Young - it only rates halfway up the chart.
More treasured moments - coming-of-age bookends "Heartbreak Tonight" and "Fair and Tender Ladies," say, or the closing "Song for Fay" - celebrate women and strength in vulnerability. Every attempt pierces its mark. In fact, few folk albums since Young's 2005 hallmark "The Art of Virtue" have proved a more thorough success. Herring's endearing maternal memorandum "Lover Girl" - "Even now we're dancing, longing for a place to know," she sings - alone suggests its undying resilience.
Now, grab hold of a sturdy beam before spinning "Midnight on the Water." Talk about the hollow aftermath of faded love. Echoing like a cannon in a cockpit, Herring distills the traditional fiddle tune into arguably the purest representation of heartache since "Goodnight Irene." "The scenes were there as in a mirror made by the moon upon the water and our love was never stronger," she gently warbles. "The picture was broken by the waves we left behind at midnight on the water, once upon a time." Even decades of scratching, of course, won't remove the deepest stains of regret.
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