Rita Hosking was born and raised in a remote Northern Californian mountain area and her music draws heavily from the old timey music she grew up with.
In part, her songs sound resigned and passive but they are also fired by a passionate spirit. None more so than the closing song,Five Star Location written in a similar indignant mood to Ballad of the Gulf of Mexico from her previous album, Burn.
The 'what are we doing with our world' sentiment here focuses on a town desolated by the money men's pursuit of cheap labour : "they shipped our jobs to China from North Carolina, they shut us down"
In the other six songs there's a wholesome, homely simplicity together with a refreshing lack of sentimentality.
The theme of passing time pervades the opening track Parting Glass ("maybe we're the kind that just don't last") and Where Time Is Reigning co-written with her daughter Kora (who also plays clawhammer banjo).
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Her husband Sean Feder provides backing for her on dobro and banjo while Hosking herself plays guitar and harmonica.
The uncomplicated melodies are well suited to the nostalgic Sierra Bound, inspired by her roots in Sierra Nevada and Clean, a song written from the perspective of a young housemaid.
On the other two tracks, Nothing Left Of Me and
Blow Northwest Wind she seems resigned to being at the mercy of the elements, going wherever the wind blows her little boat.
It all lasts just 27 minutes so it's the quality, not the quantity, that counts.
Short, but very sweet.
Rita Hosking'swebsite
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