On Rachel Baiman’s third LP, the Nashville-based artist stays true to her bluegrass and old-time roots but tells stories of contemporary American capitalism. Old Songs Never Die is the title of one tune but, in the course of ten songs, she stands witness to the slow decline of the nation. In doing so, she sounds more anguished than angry.
The album title comes from a lyric to Some Strange Notion, the opening song. This is described as ”anthemic” but is so fatalistic and downbeat that it’s unlikely to inspire activism. With lines like when so much pain is intertwined, there are none who can tear it down.”, the message seems to be that the times they aren’t a changing.
The influence of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings is evident throughout but is particularly obvious on Bitter which includes the forlorn reflection that “I found no meaning, nothing to believe in/ just men getting rich in the shade.”
On a more personal note, Lovers And Leavers addresses her battle with bipolar disorder, which she was diagnosed with in 2021. This condition is certainly not helped by the difficulty of access and affordability to healthcare in the U.S.; an issue that has become even more urgent as the country slowly recovers from the pandemic.
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In covering John Harford’s ironic Self Made Man Baiman includes her own lines that are surely directed at Trump : “Will you tell him that he’s done everything right and that he could never take the blame/ for the people cast out and trampled on, just because they got in his way?”
The understated delivery of this and other tracks means that these protest songs are not as hard-hitting as they could have been. Nevertheless, the sorrowful tone of the album comes across as an authentic and heartfelt response to a political system that is failing its own citizens.
Rachel Baiman’s website
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