Grey Delisle is on a roll. This is her second album of mostly originals this year following on from ‘She’s An Angel’ and she apparently has three more projects in the works.
This creative surge is attributed to the existential panic of the pandemic but has history.
She wrote her first song when she was five but had a twenty year hiatis from music making prior to this latest burst of activity. In the interim she kept busy as a voice actor, comedian and visual artist.
For this album she taps into her inner Loretta Lynn and is inspired by honky tonk juke box hits.
There’s a nice version of Malvina Reynolds’ The Ballad of Ella Mae and it ends with a cover of Dolly Parton’s paean to single motherhood Down From Dover.
The eleven song cycle was produced by Jolie Holland of Be Good Tanyas who also sings on a couple of tracks.
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The record also has guest spots for Big Thief’s Buck Meek and Old Crow Medicine Show’s Gil Landry on banjo.
The bluegrassy lilt of the title track features Nikki Grossman of The Sapsuckers (no, me neither!) and one imagines is part autobiographical.
Delisle is homely but streetwise, assertive yet vulnerable and has wisdom with humility. I Don’t Wanna Want You shows her at her sassy best : “I don’t wanna beat down the door. I want the key”
In short, her brand of yee-haw country holler is delivered with freshness, humour and vitality.
Grey Delisle’s website
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