Waxahatchee lays claim to Lucinda Williams’ legacy
The next Lucinda Williams? The one-time indie rocker- turned- Americana artist Katie Crutchfield who records as a solo artist under the name Waxahatchee has certainly professed her love for Williams. There was her guest essay in the New York Times commemorating the 20th anniversary of Williams’ pivotal Car Wheels on a Gravel Road album, one that Crutchfield calls her favorite album of all time and has had a profound impact on her life. There is the shared Southern lineage and love of poetry. There have also been the covers of Williams’ songs in her live shows introducing a whole new and younger audience to Williams’ work. Whereas she wears her love for Lu’s work on her sleeve, Crutchfield also continues to raise the bar with her own work as her new album called Tiger’s Blood clearly proves. It is a wonderful addition to her own canon and it receives the Ear Bliss love this week along with the debut solo album called Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker. The lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter of the revered band Big Thief, it is an album which will no doubt raise Lenker’s star in the music world. Let’s take a look.
Waxahatchee
Tiger’s Blood
Anti Records
The next Lucinda Williams? While she’s certainly professed her love for the work of Williams both on stage and in print, Katie Crutchfield, who records under the name Waxahatchee, has certainly made inroads towards such a comparison and especially over the course of the last four years which has yielded two critically acclaimed albums in Saint Cloud from 2020 and her side project called Plains with Jess Williamson. A native Southerner much like Williams (Crutchfield was born and raised in Alabama right near the Waxahatchee Creek), Crutchfield returns with her latest album under the Waxahatchee moniker called Tiger’s Blood. After an initial listen, it’s easy to say it is bound to make her the darling of the Americana world. The album’s dozen songs were written mostly during 2022, a year of heavy touring for Crutchfield that made up for lost live time during Covid when her album Saint Cloud was released. The sound of the new Tiger’s Blood once again finds that sweet spot between folk rock, alt country, and indie rock with Crutchfield’s luminescent yelp at its heart. The songs are all born of the travails of Crutchfield’s own life experiences from the straight-up love song and first single from the album “Get Right Back To It” on which she duets in Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris style with guest vocalist/ guitarist MJ Lenderman to the beautifully bare bones “365” about the fight to beat addiction issues to the anthemic “Bored” which doubles as a great chunk of twang rock. Perhaps what is best about the songs of Tiger’s Blood are they strike chords in relatable ways, personal experience stuff that confronts us all and sung with plenty of heart and soul. Tiger’s Blood is a real good one. Recommended.
Waxahatchee performs at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on April 26. Waxahatchee will also be at Tree House Brewing in Deerfield, MA on August 29.
Adrianne Lenker
Bright Future
4AD Records
Haven’t heard a song as sweet and folky as “Sadness As a Gift” from Adrianne Lenker in quite a while. Released in January, it represented the second single from Lenker of
Big Thief fame. The lead singer and principal songwriter for that revered indie folk-rock band, it created supreme anticipation for her solo album Bright Future which just saw release last week. Happy to report that the remainder of the album lives up to the quality of that early single from it. Lenker’s talent is on display right from the opening notes of Bright Future on the song “Real House.” Unadorned with only Lenker on vocals backed by the sparest of piano, it is part autobiographical beginning on a nostalgic note of cherished childhood dreams and memories to the loss of innocence as we transition to adults. It is also nothing short of a stop-you-in-yourtracks gut punch straight out of the gates before segueing to the aforementioned piece of singer/songwriter purity that is “Sadness as a Gift.” The album could stop right there and you might be fulfilled, but Lenker has plenty more to offer on the remaining 10 tunes. Working with co-producer and engineer Philip Weinrobe who helmed Lenker’s previous solo albums, Bright Future was recorded entirely in analog which gives it a warmth and breadth in sound not often found on the recordings these days. The instrumentation deployed is simple and understated with just piano, guitar, and violin from three of Lenker’s close musical friends, Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josephin Runsteen. The music is folk in all its purity from the spareness of “Evol” with only piano and violin to the rowdy hoedown of sorts that is “Vampire Empire” to “Candleflame” which is yet another stunner. The kicker of this latest solo effort is Lenker did not necessarily head into the studio with the intention of making an album, but instead more as a collaborative recording experiment which not long into it took on a life of its own resulting in what is now Bright Future. Says Lenker, “I had no idea what the outcome would be. It was magical.” Pure magic. Highly recommended. Visit www.adriannelenker.com.
Adrianne Lenker performs at the Newport Folk Festival on July 26. She will also be at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA on November 11 and the Boch Center Shubert Theatre in Boston on November 12 and 13.
LIVE SHOTS:
Spring is officially here! Go out and see some live music! Our weekly lists of some happenings in and around the Ocean State scene and beyond is right here. Starting South County, The Ocean Mist in Matunuck is great place to check out sunsets over the ocean and see music. Performing pop, rock, New Wave, R&B, and hairband hits, Total Eclipse of the 80s is a complete live musical show dedicated to the pop culture of the 1980s. It touches down at The Mist on Saturday night. Don’t forget that every Thursday at The Mist is house band The Ocean Mistics
and friends from 6-9 pm. Stars of the iconic 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar, Yvonne Elliman and Ted Neeley, come to the Greenwich Odeum in East Greenwich for performances on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Queen tribute Almost Queen
comes to the Odeum on April 5 and Americana outfit Dustbowl Revival is there on April 19. Courthouse Center for the Arts
Rebel
Rebel on Saturday night.
Heartless, which pays tribute to the music of Anne Wilson and Heart, is there on April 5 and Eric Clapton tribute Bell Bottom Blues performs on April 6. Pump
House Music Works (164 Kingstown Road) in Peace Dale presents its monthly potluck open mic on Friday evening. Saturday night features Underestimated Prophet performing the music of The Grateful Dead. Monday nights at the Pump House are the Uke jam and Tuesday evening is the weekly Old-time jam. Wednesdays are an acoustic lounge and open mic hosted by Matt Fraza. Narragansett Café
Stone Cold Gypsies. Down City Band
Neal McCarthy Problem
Wood River Inn
Dos Amigos Nick
Casey
Knickerbocker Music Center
Easy
Dela & Steady Rock
ey Project Boys
Local HonSoggy Po
Leo Kottke
Lee Fields & The Monophonics
Chan’s Restaurant Popa Chubby’s Birthday Bash
Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood
um Theatre
Stadi
The Police Experience Saturday night. The Blackstone River Theatre an evening with Hubby Jenkins of Carolina Chocolate Drops fame on Saturday night. Coming on April 6 is the bluegrass sounds of
Rock Hearts. In Pawtucket, The Met Café presents the high energy sounds of
Crooked Coast on Saturday night. Violin River plays a free show at The Met on April 7 starting at 5 pm. Askew on Chesnutt Street in Providence features Will Dailey with special guests Aubrey Haddard and Bethany Killian on Friday night. Every Monday at Askew is Meatball Mondays & Open Mic with Adam Newell
Black Violin PPAC
Narrows Center for the Arts
John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band on Saturday night.
Dan Ferguson is a freelance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcasting Thursday evenings from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3 and streaming at WRIU on all major platforms.
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