It’s been interesting to see a rebirth of interest in folk music
\nover the last few years. The Indigo Girls resparked my interest in
\nthe genre, Johnny Cash’s “comeback” deepened it, John Denver’s
\ndeath reaffirmed it.<\/p>\n
Now I can add Midwestern musicians Kara Barnard and Troy Seele,
\nwhose album
\nThe Water’s Edge<\/i> is another fine example of how alive this
\ngenre really is and how much it continues to grow. This album has
\njust the right mixture of acoustic guitars and twang to appease
\nanyone.<\/p>\n
In fact, the only “disappointment” I found was that Seele’s role
\non this album was limited to his guitar and dobro work, a
\ndisappointment that disappears quickly when you hear his talents on
\nthe six strings. True, it’s hard to figure out sometimes if Barnard
\nor Seele is playing the leads, but Seele’s dobro work is evident,
\nand is very good.<\/p>\n
Barnard’s vocals remind me a lot of Indigo Girl Amy Ray; there’s
\na wonderful mixture of sophistication and savvy in her lyrical
\ndelivery. Her lyrics are an extension of her power; observations
\nabout life around her (“Pop Bottle Annie,” “The Whiskey And The
\nPen”) often carry as much of a homily as they do a commentary. But
\nthe softness of the music tempers any lecturing, and makes the
\nsongs work perfectly.<\/p>\n
But ironically, the most powerful moments on
\nThe Water’s Edge<\/i> come from the instrumental numbers, where a
\nlittle country spice thrown in. “Sweetiny” and “As Something” shows
\noff the guitar talents of, of… well, I’m
\nguessing<\/i> it’s Seele on lead guitar (the dobro tends to give
\nthis away), but the teamwork of Barnard and Seele is also quite
\nevident. You can almost see their fingers flying on the frets as
\nthis one plays, and makes semi-guitarists like me very jealous.<\/p>\n
In fact, the whole feel of
\nThe Water’s Edge<\/i> sounds like a cross between the Indigo
\nGirls’ folk and Toni Price’s light country – and the mixture is
\nbrought to near perfection on this album.<\/p>\n
\nThe Water’s Edge<\/i> is an album you might have to search for –
\nI doubt you’ll find it floating around Sam Goody – but it’s most
\ndefinitely worth it. I could babble on and on about this one… but
\nwhy? Let the music do the talking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5943],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35908","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kara-barnard-troy-seele","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35908"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35908"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}