It\u2019s a tried-and-true storytelling trope\u2014start in the middle and then flash back to fill in the backstory. It works a little differently with musical artists, of course, but it\u2019s still exhilarating as a listener to get excited about an artist you\u2019ve just stumbled upon, only to discover they also have a substantial back catalogue.<\/p>\n
A couple of years back, that artist for me was Nashville singer-songwriter Becky Warren<\/a>, a gifted storyteller whose 2018 album Undesirable<\/i><\/a> used the real-life stories of Nashville\u2019s homeless as fuel for an album of gritty, moving first-person narratives. I called this dazzling album \u201ca terrific batch of Americana, and a genuine work of art\u201d\u2014and then found there was more. First came Warren\u2019s 2016 solo debut War Surplus<\/i><\/a>, an equally outstanding song-cycle loosely based on her marriage to and divorce from a military veteran with PTSD. <\/p>\n Before either, though, Warren was the frontwoman and principal songwriter for The Great Unknowns, an alt-country quartet that recorded this debut album in the basement of a college dorm in Boston in 2003. The group\u2014Warren (vocals), Michael Palmer (guitars), Altay Guvench (bass) and Andy Eggers (drums)\u2014only had the budget to press a few copies for family and friends, but the album somehow found its way to Amy Ray of Indigo Girls, who promptly declared the album \u201cone of the best things I have heard this year\u201d and offered to release it on her independent label Daemon Records.<\/p>\n The modest origins of Presenting The Great Unknowns<\/i> are rarely evident; in most respects it\u2019s a remarkably mature and professionally crafted album of Americana, deftly straddling country, rock, folk and blues traditions. Warren\u2014who writes all of the lyrics, while co-writing the music for most of these songs with Palmer\u2014brings her trademark honesty and wit to bear on a set of songs that, while not as laser-focused and impactful as her later solo work, is extremely impressive for a DIY debut.<\/p>\n The highlights here are several. \u201cWhen I Was Your Girl\u201d immediately feels like an A-side single, a sharp-elbowed barroom rocker with sing-along choruses and a hint of country twang; to deploy my go-to Warren comparison, it feels a little like Lucinda Williams fronting the Heartbreakers. Likewise for \u201cSomething To Do,\u201d a melancholy country-rocker whose protagonist is her on-again off-again boyfriend\u2019s soft landing between conquests. \u201cI\u2019m just somethin\u2019 to pass the time \/ Just somethin\u2019 to do\u201d goes the melancholy chorus of a song about bad decisions and frayed self-esteem. <\/p>\n The above snappy pair are backstopped by a set that leans more to the country-blues side of Americana. \u201cThis city is just a song that\u2019s gone on too long\u201d sings Warren in her dirge-like ode to \u201cLas Vegas\u201d; \u201cYou can\u2019t make it in this town \/ Without leather for bones \/ And a conscience of stone.\u201d In the same vein, \u201cForever\u201d adds beefy guitars while asking \u201cWhy did God make forever such a long, long time?\u201d Meanwhile \u201cDon\u2019t Come Home\u201d offers something of a country-blues companion piece to \u201cSomething To Do,\u201d with Warren warning an ex to stay away.<\/p>\n