Thursday, August 03, 2006

Jessi Colter, Out of the Ashes

Jessi Colter
Out of the Ashes

Shout Factory

The press release for Jessi Colter's comeback album dismisses the opener, "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," as a "perfunctory blessing." But although Colter's more earthy than ethereal on Out of the Ashes, the title provides a clue to a theme of rebirth. "Out of the Rain" even resurrects Waylon Jennings, who rejoins his old partner via an old vocal track; the result sounds eerily--and appropriately--unfinished. Colter also rebirths Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35," scrubbing it totally clean of druggy double-entendres but still keeping it real.

Producer Don Was keeps things stripped-down, almost demo-like, with solid, unremarkable backing, allowing Colter's humanity to glow. "Sparrow" reveals a passion that's almost too naughty for the choir loft, one that's played out in "You Can Pick 'Em," where the outlaw-country legend, now living in Arizona, geographically catalogs someone's exes: "There was one from Texas/Oh she made you squall/But the one from Arizona left you no soul at all." This must be the same demon-woman who sings ominously, in the provocatively imagistic "The Canyon," "It's a long way down the canyon/Only the stars would see you fall."

By Pamela Murray Winters

Harp, Mar/Apr 2006

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