The death of long term partner and collaborator Joe Gracey in 2011 prompted Kimmie Rhodes to revisit fifteen old friends in the form of songs that have shaped her musical education.
Her choice is a conservative one: the Stones' Moonlight Mile, two Beatles' numbers, two by Dylan and other songs by Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Leon Russell. She even takes on that old chestnut What A Wonderful World.
Clearly, the brief here is not to select obscurities but to go with well established standards. In this context, her version of U2's Stuck In A Moment is perhaps the boldest selection.
For Rodney Crowell's Adam's Song, Crowell himself joins her for a duet. Other notable vocal contributions come from Delbert McClinton on Jimmie Reed's Shame Shame Shame and Marcia Ball on a fun Cajun remake of Mark Knopfler's Cannibals.
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As for her instrumental backing, she calls on a long list of top players, a measure of the respect she commands within her immediate musical community as a songwriter's songwriter.
The gentleness and fragility of her voice means that the emotional investment in these tunes is never casual or half-baked.
It's a warm-hearted, often moving record and it is significant that most songs can be interpreted as coming to terms with the loss of a loved one.
In the words of the Crowell song, it's an album which finds her "learning how to live with a lifelong broken heart".
Kimmie Rhodes' website
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