Lucy Kaplansky is a talented songwriter and a delightful singer who suffers somewhat from one or two of the afflictions that are endemic to modern folk-rock singer/songwriters -- chief among them Irritating Vowel Syndrome, which can cause one to pronounce "sky" as "skeh-ee" and "heart" as if one had grown up in Maine. (
Kaplansky seems to have caught this disease from
Dar Williams, with whom she sometimes collaborates and who is in its advanced stages.) Those tendencies are easy to ignore on this gorgeous album, though, which floats deliriously on a bed of lush chord progressions, gently powerful guitar work (courtesy of an all-star cast of backing musicians that includes Larry Campbell and Jon Herington), and
Kaplansky's own sweet, unassumingly lovely voice. Her own compositions are consistently very good, but she also exhibits fine taste in others' work as well, delivering covers of Steve Earle's excellent "You're Still Standing There," Julie Miller's "Broken Things," and, most surprisingly, an old Louvin Brothers gospel tune.
John Gorka and
Richard Shindell pitch in low harmonies at perfect moments. Very, very nice. ~ Rick Anderson