Julie Lee

Item: Stillhouse Road
Author: Ross Thompson

Stillhouse Road

(2004)

Reviewed by Ross Thompson

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Label Compadre RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

alternative country americana bluegrass country

The first thing that you notice is the voice. Julie Lee has been gifted with a truly wonderful voice. It is full of dustbowls and tumbleweed, moonshine and back porches. It is honey-glazed and sandpaper rough in all the right places. It is celebratory and mournful in equal measures. Beautiful by anyone's standards, it has shades of legends such as Iris DeMent and Emmylou Harris, but after that it is all hers. For that reason and many others, Julie Lee has really come into her own as a singer who deserves to be celebrated by a wider audience than the Christian community whose concerns she writes about with such kindness and insight.

"Stillhouse Road" is a whirlwind of emotions and musical styles, a scrapbook of memories and stories set to country and bluegrass. On the opening title track, Julie sings of an American family living through the hardships of Prohibition and the Depression. "I doubt the moonshine / Was used for communion wine," she sings, no doubt with a sneaky smile on her face over an infectious chorus. "Grandpa's white lightning / would leave you pining." This sepia-tinged portrait of the past introduces the themes of family, community and nostalgia that inform much of the album. The imagery is familiar to any Country and Western fan, but Julie places an intriguing spin on these well-worn situations. On 'Winter', the idea of planting for the following harvest appears to become a metaphor for the Christian faith. "Hold on till the spring," Julie sings at her sweetest, most lilting, before repeating the line "Help my unbelief." This simple, delicate track is one of the strongest on the album.

As befits the country genre, spiritual concerns are threaded throughout the entire record. On "Many Waters" and "Your Love," Julie plays with Biblical imagery of thirst and refreshment, but she does so convincingly, putting across a strong personal faith rather than just using the same tools as her predecessors. Again, it is the deceptive simplicity of these lyrics that empowers their profundity and power: "You're like a cloudy day in August / Bringing all that lovely rain / Never knew that I was thirsty / Until I had a taste of your love." There is no element of piety or self-satisfaction to the lyrics, but rather a deep conviction that is communicated with kindness and, importantly, a good tune.

There are a few niggles. "Made from Scratch" is a recipe that does not do much for me, but arguably that has much to do with personal taste. "Soapbox" is a slightly obvious riposte to spiritual sanctimony, and is perhaps the weakest on the album. Secondly, a good handful of the songs on Stillhouse Road have been included on previous Julie Lee offerings. They have been buffed up, tweaked and re-recorded, but fans will maybe be wary of paying again for the same material, however improved it might be. These are small niggles, however, and I entertain them to deflect any accusations of sycophancy on my part. The fact of the matter is that it would be fantastic if Stillhouse Road awakens an army of new fans to Julie's music, regardless of how many times the songs have been released before.

Having heard and seen Julie play live on several occasions, I know that the high point of each performance is the fragile lament "Till the Cows Come Home." Fittingly, it is also arguably the best song on the album. Allegedly based on a true story, it is concerned with a husband or a lover leaving home and never coming back. The fragile intensity (to quote e. e. cummings) of this track stems from the understated arrangement of the instrumentation, the composition of the lyrics and the way in which Julie sings them. Once again, it is the small details that hit home. "Well, your supper's cold / Missed your favorite show / But I've left the porch light on / The dog won't sleep / I think he'll wait for you / Till the cows come home." The situation is so real and so recognizable that each line is like a punch to the heart. It is the perfect way to close the album, and its nostalgia for the past is an inverted image of that of the opening track.

This song, like most of the rest of the album, will haunt you long afterwards. Travelling the Stillhouse Road is a journey that many will enjoy taking.