Lots of artists thrive in the company of a sideman who is happy to stand just out of the spotlight; Sally Spring has Ted Lyons, and between them they've come up with a cracking album. Borrowing from English folk music as much as modern American singer-songwriter styles, eight of the eleven songs are originals, with Ted Lyons getting a co-write credit on three of them. Overall we could probably do with one or two lighter, or faster, songs; that caveat aside, it's a joy to hear these beautifully played, and beautifully sung, songs.
Sally Spring's voice is low enough to have that darkness and emotional complexity that reminds me more of June Tabor than any American singer I can think of off the top of my head. Her phrasing is fantastic, the phrasing of a real singer. She always seems to have time to put the emphasis just where she wants it - yet at the same time, many of the songs are very strongly rhythmic, with an impulse of their own for which the musicians seem to be merely conduits. This is most clearly felt on "Here Come The Memories"; Sally Spring's voice and guitar establish the rhythm and mood, before bass and harmonium come in to fill out the sound - but Sally's singing is utterly the focus, quietly compelling, and quickly under your skin.
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Throughout this record, the playing is beautiful; it is the playing of mature musicians who know their game, and know how to embelish without being flash. A few big name supporters turn up to lend their weight, Gene Parsons, for one, contributing pedal steel and vocal support on the two versions of Hickory Wind that appear here. I have to say that she gets more meaning from the lyric, for my money, than the other Parsons that wrote it. "Mockingbird" is a polished gem, and I can only wonder at why Sally Spring's profile has been so low in recent years.
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