[FM] review of Caroline Herring's CD "Twilight"

[celtic-folk@surfnetusa.com]

Below is my review of Caroline Herring's CD "Twilight".

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                            A Review of the CD
                                 "Twilight"
                            by Caroline Herring
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"Twilight"
by Caroline Herring

copyright 2001
Blue Corn Music
P.O. Box  572550
Houston, TX 77057
http://www.bluecornmusic.com and
http://www.carolineherring.com

This review is written by Kevin McCarthy, 5/02
"Kevin's Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews"
http://www.surfnetusa.com/celtic-folk/index.html
mailto:celtic-folk@surfnetusa.com

Caroline Herring's day job is as a folklorist at Texas Folklife Resources
in Austin. Heads up to the management at TFR: you better start pouring over
resumes looking for her replacement. Her music is that good.

Like Kate Campbell, Herring chronicles southern life. She wraps the
listener in a broad weave of personal reminiscences and cultural icons
endemic to her home region. Hers is a pleasing and easy-to-listen-to voice,
with a slight drawl. But it is her lyrics that push her to the fore as a
talent to watch. They gently meander between straightforward, but dead-on,
and challenging.

"Wise Woman" spotlights, within a context of a loving relationship,
matter-of-fact, day-to-day life for those working the land:

     "...we ground the corn
     molded lard and lye
     had ten children
     watched four die
     I'll stand beside you when you meet the promised land..."

She contrasts that with the country-ish "Devil Made A Mess," a pedal
steel-backed song featuring the requisite heartless and thoughtless but
irresistibly attractive scoundrel.

Presenting small town rural life in "Learning To Drive," Herring sings:

     "...daddy taught her to never look twice
     say thank-you ma'am and always look nice
     be the best like a football team
     scoring against the rivalry
     keep the insides hammered down
     best performer on the stage in town
     a speck surrounded by soybean fields
     in the land of red clay wheels..."

Herring moves the listener from Civil War times to the present with
"Standing In The Water." Invoking Vicksburg, Grant, Sherman and slavery,
she sings:

     "...long gone the fish fry
     long gone the moon pie
     long gone
     long gone
     standing in the water
     my dresses soiled and seen
     good night cottonlandia
     get your ghosts off of me..."

"Delta" encompasses the wandering and wondering life. Herrings sings:

     "I was on a Delta highway
     twilight rising from the road
     lightning shone on cotton fields
     I drove through pink skies alone
     went to Lourdes and Santiago
     traveled down to New Orleans
     between pilgrims and les bons temps
     lived the visions and the dreams..."

Head on down to Dixieland with Caroline Herring. Time spent with her won't
soon be forgotten.

Herring, on guitar and vocals, is supported by Peter Rowan on vocals,
guitar and mandola; Jeff Plakenhorn on dobro; Billy Bright on mandolin and
mandola; Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle; Bryn Bright on vocals, acoustic bass
and cello; Paul Pearcy on percussion and drums; Lloyd Maines on pedal steel
and dobro; John Inmon on vocals, electric guitar and percussion; Paul
Glasse on mandolin and Richard Bowden on fiddle.

Track List:

   * Mississippi Snow (3:04)
   * Ringside Rodeo (3:56)
   * Devil Made A Mess (4:19)
   * Wise Woman (3:08)
   * Emma (4:59)
   * Whippoorwill (3:00)
   * Learning To Drive (3:32)
   * Carolina Moon (2:40)
   * Standing in the Water (3:29)
   * Delta Highway (4:11)
   * Wreck on the Highway (3:59) Dorsey Dixon

All songs written by Caroline Herring, except as noted.

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================================================
Kevin McCarthy
mailto:celtic-folk@surfnetusa.com
Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews
http://www.surfnetusa.com/celtic-folk/index.html