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Austin Music City
Greg Roberts
April 23, 2008
After listening to this album I’m really glad that I have no limitations on space to give a review because I need a lot of room to cover this one. I’ve heard a remarkable number of albums in my time but this one is well worth whatever words, if this can be expressed in words, can be written. From the very start, from the very first intro, this is a beautiful, memorable work of art that continues to the last note as one of the finest expressions of music there is. In listening to this album, it’s like I’m hearing something that I know is going to be a new turn on modern music that borrows from both the literary world and the very beginnings of the recording industry that brought forth ballads and tales of murder and mayhem with echoes of Vernon Dalhart and The Carter Family.
Caroline Herring’s voice is a hard thing to describe, it has a complete acknowledgement of history in it. Ethereal, haunting, broad, and almost 3D in its presence, wrapping around your soul with a demanding edge, something that hasn’t been heard in quite some time. There’s an ability that Herring has to actually paint pictures with the tones of her voice so clear that it’s like a movie running in your mind, an extremely rare occurrence in records, but it’s thoroughly evident here, an amazing thing.
As a songwriter, Herring has perfectly matched her material with her voice and the production on the album, while sparse and uncomplicated, is exactly what it needs to be. One of the more intense songs on the album, “Paper Gown”, is about Susan Smith, the 23 year old mother from Union, South Carolina who drowned her sons in her car and made national news, all the while blaming an African-American male that she said had kidnapped her sons, a truly Southern Gothic tale that you have to hear to believe.
All in all, there are 10 songs on this album, 10 of the most interesting, intense, original and lyrically perfect songs you will ever be able to hear, and it can’t go without mentioning, the musicians on this album are totally involved and must be recognized for their contributions to this wonderful effort. They are: Rich Brotherton, Glenn Fukunaga, Danny Barnes, Warren Hood, Marty Muse, Tom Van Schaik, and Paul Pearcy.
The bottom line here is this, if you want to hear a brilliant artist that will move you in a way you haven’t been moved, who has an uncanny talent to totally and effortlessly immerse you in the sound of her voice, this is it. And it is one of five CDs that have made it to my car, which is a rare thing indeed. It is also the first nominee for AMC’s Album Of The Year. To learn more, check out www.carolineherring.com or www.myspace.com/carolineherring and see for yourself what a real-life, emerging, contemporary talent sounds like.
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