STACK #185 Mar 2020

MUSIC REVIEWS

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The Secret Sisters Saturn Return

Fred Smith Domestic

The Secret Sisters are Laura and Lydia Rogers from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Singing and music has been a huge part of their lives. Siblings singing together, does it get any better than that? That's where comparisons to The Everly Brothers and First Aid Kit come to mind. Saturn Return is an album steeped in loss and love, the Rogers sisters having experienced the loss of both of their grandmothers around the same time as the arrival of their own babies. Produced by Brandi Carlile with Tim & Phil Hanseroth, as was their Grammy- nominated 2017 album You Don’t Own My Anymore . Strong, sweet, soulful and honest, whether singing solo or harmoniously these girls are something else. (Inertia) Denise Hylands

Fred Smith is one of Australia’s most interesting songwriters. If you’re looking for a reference point, think of a mix of Neil Murray and John Schumann, with the biting wit of Dave Warner, while the opening track, Whenever We Make Art , has the jauntiness of Robert Forster. After working as a diplomat and singing songs about war and death, Smith returns home with this record, which examines “the politics of fear” and “the politics of anger”, while also covering affairs of the heart“ with “love songs for middle-aged people”. “Every day I write new songs,” Smith declares. “Covering all that I’ve done wrong.” These are distinctly Australian stories, with a delightful, dinkum turn of phrase. (MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Rob Hirst & Jay O'Shea The Lost And The Found

Imagine you spent 15 years trying to find your birth parents, only to discover that your dad is a rock legend. That’s the simple version of Jay O’Shea’s story. She was born at the start of 1974, but her birth parents – both teenagers – were forced to give her up for adoption. She grew up in Adelaide, while her

father, Rob Hirst, conquered the world with Midnight Oil. Jay later became a star in her own right, as one-half of the Golden Guitar-winning country duo O’Shea with her husband, Mark. Based in Tennessee, they became friends with Midnight Oil’s bassist Bones Hillman, not knowing that he was in a band with Jay’s dad. It’s an extraordinary tale and now Rob Hirst and Jay O’Shea are making music together. “We are all part of something imperfect and wild,” Hirst sings on their debut album. “It’s too late for false confessions.” There’s an ethereal quality to the record, an intoxicating mix of pop, rock, country and blues, with the father-daughter voices perfectly complementing each other. “Time makes fools of us all,” Hirst sings at the start of the record. But this is an album about making up for lost time..Getting to know each other. The joy of collaboration, with no regrets and no fear. The Lost And The Found. (Sony) Jeff Jenkins

Pat Metheny From This Place

James Taylor American Standard Covering iconic songs from The Great American Songbook can be fraught with danger, sometimes resulting in performances that sound like pale imitations of the original versions. James Taylor, however, has an innate ability to inhabit songs he didn't write and make them his own, as evidenced on his newest release of standards and show songs that were part of the family record collection. Employing simple stripped- down guitar arrangements based around Taylor and John Pizzarelli's skillful guitar work, Taylor's vocals bring new life to songs such as Moon River , The Nearness Of You , God Bless The Child , Teach Me Tonight , Pennies From Heaven and Ol' Man River . (Fantasy/Concord) Billy Pinnell

Among fusion musicians whose careers began to take off in the 1970s, guitarist Pat Metheny can be said to have a genuinely individual voice. Avoiding the histrionics associated with many of his peers, Metheny, who cites The Beatles, Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery as having the biggest impact on his music, incorporates dazzling mixes of world music, jazz and classical influences on his latest album accompanied by his long-time touring band, singer Meshell Ndegeocello and the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The 20-time Grammy Award winner's warm, lyrical guitar blends seamlessly with the improvisational skills of his fellow musicians on these ten new compositions.

Tami Neilson Chika Boom!

Growing up, Canadian-born, NZ-based, Tami Neilson was part of her family band The Neilsons, playing shows across North America and working alongside artists like Johnny Cash and Tanya Tucker. She’s been making music ever since, picking up NZ awards for Best Female Artist, Country Album, Country Songs

etc. Describing these songs as “popping firecrackers” stripped back to guitar, percussion and two voices, it’s Neilson’s voice that is so WOW! Belting out rockabilly, soul and country, her sensational powerhouse vocals, full of sass and soul, sit somewhere between Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline. Chicka Boom! , bang and twang! (Southbound/Neilson Records) Denise Hylands

(Nonesuch) Billy Pinnell

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MARCH 2020

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