This Way Home
Cindy Kallet and friends
Stone's Throw Music
2000
14 tracks
More than simplistic and mawkish tradition (a pale imitative shadow of the past), true heritage pervades This Way Home, drawing our past into the present and reminding the present of the past. Even the newest creation on this release brings with it a depth of time that draws the listener into a past often only dimly recalled. This sense of an infinite time beyond chronology issues partly from the writing of the words and music, but also from the very sensitive performances of Cindy Kallet and her musical friends.
While the songs on this release all tend to fall loosely into the Scots-Irish tradition which has made a major contribution to the voice of American folk music, within that parameter these songs tend to be quite eclectic. Some sound quite Scottish; some definitely Irish. Some explore the heritage of the people who inhabited North America long before the Europeans came. There's one wonderful cowboy song. Some sound like old English folk ballads and others are just downright American. There's more than one paean to nature. And there's even one lovely instrumental piece. And amongst all this variety, there's a marvelous unity.
My two favourite songs on This Way Home happen to be back to back. "Them Stars" is the cowboy song that I've already mentioned. "Snipe II's Fancy" makes a natural instrumental transition from "Them Stars" to the remaining songs in the set.
"Them Stars" is one of the four songs on this release not written by Kallet. In fact, the authorship of the song comes as a bit of a surprise. The words and the music sound very much a traditional cowboy song. Yet there is a depth to the lyrics that suggest a certain academic influence and literary power. The words, however, are credited to the University of Colorado Archives, and are likely true cowboy originals, while the very traditional sounding melody to which they are set is credited to Margaret MacArthur, a contemporary folk singer who wrote it in 1996.
Whatever its sources, "Them Stars" is a wonderful western masterpiece that draws a panorama of imagery and native American mysticism. Gordon Bok's rich baritone set against Kallet's beautiful vocals bring the song a realism and beauty I've not heard in a folk song in a long time. The arrangement, which adds in the backing vocals of Lisa Kallet and Will Brown and some very traditional instrumental backing by Kallet and Bok only adds glimmer to an already bright and shining diamond.
"Snipe II's Fancy" flows out of "Them Stars" like a crisp glacial mountain stream tumbling across the rocks and moss and tossing sunlit diamonds every which way. [Pardon what may seem florid language, but it's a memory from my childhood in the Canadian Rockies and it's the image this song most brings me.] Here is a sweet, slow, traditional sounding [but written by Kallet] instrumental performed perfectly but apparently effortlessly by Bok and Kallet. It takes me back not years but generations in its simplicity and beauty.
If you were watching a movie about King Arthur or perhaps Henry VIII, you might expect to hear some lutenist playing and singing a song much like "I used to Go Walking" in the the background as some loving couple strolls the palatial gardens. This song has that sort of very old English folk sound about it. Yet, while the song is quite subtle and the precise context might not be recognized without reading the liner notes, the lyrics present a tale darker than any "Greensleeves" might present and bring the song firmly into modern times. The edge between beautiful traditional song and powerful contemporary lyrical context is sharp indeed, and very effective.
The only apparent mistake on this release is actually quite effective. I suspect that it was at first a mistake but that in production, Kallet decided to leave it in and wrote it into the lyric. "Winter Window" is another very traditional English sounding song. At the beginning, the first two words are repeated. In the recording, this sounds like a false start left in. Yet, there it is: included also in the printed lyric in the liner notes. If the song was originally written this way, brava. If it was actually a false start and the decision was made to keep it, again, brava. It's a fitting start to a very beautiful song.
Taken separately as a song, "Red Spruce" is a lovely song (which very much reminds me of a certain pop song, but I can't remember which). However, set into the context of an album which is entirely strings based, I find the piano here both incongruous and jarring. And I wonder why include the piano at all. Listening to the melody and reading/hearing the lyric, I see no reason this song could not be very powerful performed with guitar and possibly with other supporting strings.
Beyond the overall high quality of the writing, performance, and production of this release, I'm especially taken with the vocals of both Cindy Kallett and Gordon Bok. At first blush, Kallet's voice reminded me of Gogi Grant and then later of Ann Murray. While both are, in my opinion, folk artists, there is clearly a strong pop music element in their greatest hits. Kallet is clearly singing in a very traditional folk-music mode, but the depth and power of her voice very much invokes Grant and Murray in the mind of at least this one listener. Bok, on the other hand, brings to mind the deep vocal renditions of artists like Oscar Brand and Stan Rogers, with their very traditional treatments.
Did I happen to mention that I like and am very impressed by this release? It's true. If you want to hear some very contemporary folk music that draws past and present together in a most wonderful way, then This Way Home is a CD you simply must own. I personally look forward to hearing more from both Cindy Kallet and Gordon Bok.
For more information on Cindy Kallet and her music, be sure to check out Overall Music. If you want to know more about Gordon Bok, look up GordonBok.com.
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