Six seems to be a lucky number for Thea Hopkins. 'Love Comes Down' is a six-track 20 minute EP to follow her six track 21 minute EP (Lilac Sky) from six years ago. This unsigned Boston singer songwriter also released two full length albums in 2001 and, six years later, in 2007.
Washington Post called her “a standout writer” but, otherwise she has maintained a relatively low profile which was raised only slightly when Peter, Paul & Mary covered her song 'Jesus Is On The Wire' in 2004.
This PP&M connection is maintained by the guest appearance of Paul (Noel Paul Stookey) on The Ghost Of Emmett Till, a song written in remembrance of a 14 year-old black boy brutally killed in Mississippi in 1955. This horrific racially motivated murder still stirs strong feelings to this day.
Hopkins sensitivity to any issues related to racism is doubtless heightened by her ancestry which includes African-American, Nottoway (Iroquois), Irish and Portuguese. She is a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Indian tribe of Martha's Vineyard, and Tamson Weeks tells the story of her great-great aunt who was a medicine woman for this tribe.
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It would be misleading, however, to think of this record as a protest album; rather it is best regarded as a modest invocation of the singer's personal and social history.
Mississippi River, Mississippi Town is specific in terms of location but the themes of love and respect she covers are universal. The folk songs are given a jazzy flavor by trumpeter Tom Halter who plays on four songs.
The EP closes with a lullaby, Until Then, to emphasize the record's pleasantly soothing and dreamy qualities.
Thea Hopkins' website
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