- Label: 'Need To Know Music'
- Genre: 'Alt/Country'
- Release Date: '19th April 2024'- Catalogue No: 'NTK2401HL'
Our Rating:
This is an marvellous album of classic and classy country music expressing an emotionally charged mix of strength and vulnerability.
The wistful mood is plain to hear and Heather Little says the record “is about how easy it is to be hard on yourself.”
Little’s career began in the early 2000’s in her native Texas. Although her song-writing dates from that time, 2013’s ‘Wings Like These’ is her only proper full-length release until now. She jokes that ‘By Now’ has been “46 years in the making.”
The basic tracks for the album were recorded in California and produced by Brian Brinkerhoff and Frank Swart. Her vocals have been subtly fleshed out by finely judged arrangements and benefit from accomplished musicians who include Audley Freed, Duke Levine, Paul Griffith, John Deaderick and Jared Tyler, The songs would be powerful with just voice and acoustic guitar but this subtly polished production makes them shine even brighter.
Guest vocalists lend their talents to the album, including Patty Griffin on two tracks. The first of these - Hands Like Mine is an unflinching look at marriage as a white knuckle ride rather than as an romantic journey.
Other guest vocalists include Rusty Vansickle (Five Deer County), Leslie Satcher (Razor Wire), and Crystal Bowersox (Saint Christopher).
The album’s centrepiece is the complex and multi-layered Transistor Radio but this is just one of many highlights. Take for instance, My Father’s Roof, a chilling song about growing up in a home which offers “no refuge, cover or shelter.”
My personal favourite is Better By Now, as raw a breakup song as you’re ever likely to hear : ”I ought to be better by now /But I got mixed up with you somehow…….You carved a hole in the soul of me I filled it up with gasoline.” Ronnie Bowman accompanies her on the album version but her heart-wrenching solo rendition on You Tube illustrates that the backing is far from essential.
The closing track is Gunpowder & Lead in which Van Plating adds backing vocals to a powerful revenge song (“I’m gonna show him what little girls are made of”) previously recorded by co-writer Miranda Lambert.
This concludes a brilliant album that gets better with each listen. If these songs don’t touch you, you need to check your pulse.
