{"id":46776,"date":"2023-11-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/new-non-fiction\/"},"modified":"2023-11-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T00:00:00","slug":"new-non-fiction","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/new-non-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"New Non-Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Discovering Susan Werner was a happy accident for me. It was one of the songs the Evil Green Circle said was similar to other things I listen to, and lo and behold, it was correct. Susan Werner is a gifted lyricist like Carrie Newcomer, a soft-voiced, husky alto like Rosanne Cash, and jumps around styles like Suzanne Vega. She is invariably presented as \u2018contemporary folk\u2019, a musical label I\u2019m not very fond of. For me, at least, folk music is either Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger; quiet guitar and voice but with a fierce intensity. Yes, Werner can do that, but she can do so much more.<\/p>\n<pclass=\"msonormal\">Her 2001 release, <i>New Non-Fiction<\/i>, is an excellent collection of songs, varied in style, and performed with a simple grace. While the focus is on Werner\u2019s voice and guitar, there are often moments of musical variance; Hammond organ on \u201cMisery And Happiness\u201d and \u201c(It\u2019s OK To) Feel Good,\u201d steel guitar on \u201cBlue Guitar,\u201d subtle mandolin on \u201cBarbed Wire Boys\u201d (and there will be more said about that song in a bit, trust me).    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><i>New Non-Fiction<\/i> is a musical smorgasbord, in the best sense of the word. \u201cBig Car\u201d dips into country-blues, and Werner lets her voice go and has some fun with it. \u201cStationary\u201d is a useful piece of life advice <u>and<\/u> a Beatlesque, precisely-performed piece of music. And \u201cBarbed Wire Boys\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">How do I explain \u201cBarbed Wire Boys\u201d? Werner, like me, is from the Midwest, and this is her tribute to all the quiet, gruff rural men she grew up with. It\u2019s also a sad, sad song, because Werner dares to suggest that these men had dreams, other lives, flights of fancy and whimsy they wanted to indulge in, but didn\u2019t dare because of responsibility.<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: normal\" class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201c<i>Tough as the busted thumbnails<br \/>On the weathered hands,<br \/>They worked the gold plate<br \/>Off their wedding bands,<br \/>And they never complained, no, they never made noise<br \/>And they never left home, those barbed wire boys\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">In the end, Werner equates the pressure to conform residing in these men to being wrapped in barbed wire; one move outside your societally-circumscribed place and you will cut, and hurt, and bleed. Incredibly powerful stuff, and an incisive look at the kind of people you are not likely to hear Cardi B mentioning.<\/p>\n<p>    <i>New Non-Fiction<\/i> is a powerful, mature piece of work. Each song has depth to it, multiple metaphors clamoring for attention, and it demands you listen. An amazing piece of work.\t\t\t\t<\/pclass=\"msonormal\">\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":34909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10905],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-46776","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-susan-werner","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46776","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\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46776"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}