There were several things that intrigued me about this one, but the bottom line is that I would most likely give a spin to any album by any artist that includes Gary Louris and Mark Olson of the Jayhawks as guest vocalists. (It also doesn\u2019t hurt if your wife-and-husband duo calls Arlo Guthrie \u201cdad.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Sarah Lee Guthrie (granddaughter of Woody, daughter of Arlo) and Johnny Irion make lush, gauzy country-rock in the vein of the oh-so-aptly-named Cowboy Junkies, with (for the most part) Sarah singing lead and Johnny composing and singing harmony.\u00a0 Leadoff track \u201cAhead Of Myself\u201d immediately places the listener late at night in a smoky bar with its dreamy country-jazz cadence and sensuous melody.\u00a0 What\u2019s more surprising to discover is the hint of Motown lurking in the arrangement; Guthrie sounds like she has Diana Ross in the back of her mind as she\u2019s singing, albeit a deliciously languorous Miss Ross.<\/p>\n
Sophomore cut \u201cNever Far From My Heart\u201d dials up the emotional intimacy further still, a song of deep longing with a terrific lyric.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d rather have you under the moon than anything under the sun\u201d sings Guthrie before the duo harmonizes on the hooky chorus: \u201cYou\u2019re not here, but you\u2019re never far from my heart.\u201d In the wake of this opening pair, one comparison in particular begins to feel inevitable—but after all, any male-female couple working this neck of the musical woods to some extent walks in the footsteps of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons. \u00a0Guthrie and Irion are no exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeed Of Light\u201d ups the tempo and adds tambourine to deliver an airy number with a distinctly Motown rhythm section.\u00a0 \u201cSeven Sisters\u201d\u2014one of a pair of tunes composed by Guthrie\u2014opens with gospel Hammond organ, adds pedal steel for that country flavor, and then leaves Guthrie to take a lead vocal that\u2019s full of delicate vibrato, so very Emmylou.\u00a0 \u201cSisters\u201d also benefits from Louris and Olson\u2019s background vocals on the chorus.<\/p>\n
Guthrie and Irion share lead vocals on \u201cTarget On Your Heart,\u201d another tune that opens with a tambourine-tinged r&b feel before lifting off into the dreamy substratosphere at the chorus. \u201cHurry Up & Wait\u201d follows with rich acoustic chording, dual lead vocals and a supple melodic hook.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the occasional odd choice, like opting on the busking-on-the-sidewalk vignette \u201cDupont Circle\u201d to use a very mechanical sounding drum machine under a rather sing-songy little folk tune. (Really?) And then there are those subtle touches that work, like the delicate acoustic melody, accordion and sleigh bells shimmering gently under Guthrie\u2019s ethereal vocals on the subsequent \u201cButterflies,\u201d her other composition here. <\/p>\n
For the most part, though, Guthrie, Irion, co-producer\/guitarist Andy Cabic and co-producer\/mixer Thom Monaghan (Train) opt to keep the arrangements simple and elegant, relatively unadorned and with emphasis placed on the two voices up front; everything else is there simply to complement the vocals. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst Snow\u201d is co-written by Louris\u2014who also produced the duo\u2019s previous 2005 album Exploration<\/i>\u2014and reminds again of why he and Olson happily joined this effort. After all, Bright Examples<\/i> sounds like nothing quite so much as a mash-up of Cowboy Junkies with Tomorrow The Green Grass<\/i>-era Jayhawks, overflowing with seemingly effortless, unhurried melodies.<\/p>\n
Toward the end, \u201cCompany I\u2019m Keepin\u201d offers a very pretty piano ballad where Guthrie gives a slightly jazzy interpretation to the vocal\u2014or maybe it\u2019s just the way she\u2019s miked, with her delicate voice fully exposed front and center. The closing title track finds Irion taking his only lead vocal and doing his very best slow-and-dreamy Neil Young impression\u2014it\u2019s a good one.<\/p>\n
Bright Examples<\/i> delivers 12 tracks of painterly, organic country-rock with complementary male-female harmonies, showcasing the genuine vulnerability of Guthrie\u2019s trembly vibrato and the subtle magic of these two voices intertwining and melting together. This is not an album that\u2019s going to set your pulse racing; it\u2019s more like a slow, smooth cocktail on a warm summer evening, lulling you into a state of knowing contentment.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a pretty pleasant place to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8706],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-42327","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sarah-lee-guthrie-johnny-irion","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42327","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42327"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}