Following the slow-burn success of her eponymous debut EP - a casually distributed affair that nonetheless managed to find its way around the alt country underground - Heather Waters' first full-length album, shadow of you, is out in the world. Now, [+]Following the slow-burn success of her eponymous debut EP - a casually distributed affair that nonetheless managed to find its way around the alt country underground - Heather Waters' first full-length album, shadow of you, is out in the world. Now, roots music aficionados who keep hearing the name of the genre-fusing writer/singer can at last discover for themselves what has inspired the ongoing buzz.
shadow of you (independently released on Waters' redd fogg records) fuses elements of bluegrass, stone country and the singer-songwriter genre into a brew that is at once a timeless evocation of indigenous American music and the distinctive expression of a singular artist. Bassist Sheldon Gomberg (Ryan Adams, Shivaree, Warren Zevon, Rickie Lee Jones) stepped in as producer with Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Alejandro Escovedo) and Craig Macintyre (Josh Groban) anchoring the band. A number of in-demand players also contributed including Wallflower Rami Jaffee, Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Tift Merritt), Tony Gilkyson (Lone Justice, X) Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Brian Wilson) and David Kalish (Rickie Lee Jones). Legendary Americana artists David Rawlings and Gillian Welch also helped out by lending two songs to the mix. The band connected naturally with the earthy material and Waters' captivating voice. As Jaffee puts it, "Heather turned L.A. into Big Sky country."
Among the stunners she wraps her sultry voice around are Gillian Welch's "You Just Don't Love Me," Mark Simos' "A River I Can't Cross," and her own "Comin' Home," and "Turn," along with the opening "Brown Jacket" and "Josephine," co-written by Waters and her frequent collaborator, Robin Eaton.
From the moment she hits the first chorus of the opening "Brown Jacket," half-singing, half-sighing the words, "And there's no sleep for the wicked," with Heywood's pedal steel rising behind her like a blue moon, it's readily apparent that Waters doesn't shy away from hard truths. Her unforgettable voice seems to rise out of the American soil, melancholy yet resilient, immediate yet timeless, as she inhabits the frayed vines of the dead-end relationships so heart-wrenchingly recounted in "Turn" ("You don't turn unless you turn on me, then you turn it off"), "Hush" ("Life's a little bit sweeter
|
 |
Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
Full Tracks
