Every once in a while I will come across an album that seems to become a part of who I am because it helps me understand my desires and emotions by portraying them in the songs better than I thought they could be portrayed. Sandra McCracken's Gypsy Flat Road does just that. This album is a journey of our desires, our fears, and our hope. And the liner notes declare that Jesus is "the breath and soul of all that is displayed here." Only an album as heartfelt, honest, and beautiful, as this one would deserve to make that claim. Listening to this album feels like comfort, like falling in love, or coming home after a long time away.
The CD kicks off with the title track which sets the theme for the album. It is a simple rootsy folk song with the recurring line "and it rained all day... with the bounty of new wine." This is followed by "Family Name" which immediately surprises the listener with how poppy it sounds. But that's not a bad thing. The loop guides McCracken's soaring vocals which speak of the recurring problems of a family which are passed down through its generations.
So who are you now, when you are alone
Will you recognize it when you're old?
You stare it in the face, then forget what you've seen
You give it to your sons, it's tangled in their dreams.
On "Where I'm From" McCracken has a lot of help instrumentally, including a Hammond b-3, mandolin, and slide guitar. It continues the family theme in speaking of what has been passed down through generations in her family, and how these are now part of who she is. "Violet Eyes" has a very old country feel to it, especially with the banjo and McCracken's voice. It's a song about trying to justify a past that's too painful or maybe too good to understand. McCracken laments:
Is there more than breathing
Or motionless hoping for...
Kindred ties, orphan lies
Easier to run than reconcile
Mountain highs, cursed nights
When you run, you drag it all behind...
Next is "Springtime Indiana" which is probably one of the top 5 most beautiful love songs I have ever heard. Here it's just McCracken showing off her guitar playing skills, which include here a down home counry twang. She tells her love;
Springtime Indiana
You are starting to wake
And I am laden with the thoughts
Of everything I mean to say
I wish I could tell you,
But I just can't find the words.
"Ticket Home" is a song about the passions that fill in us, drawing us away from this world to a place where our hearts are full. I really like it because it starts off describing being in a record store listening to a song, and I really connect with that. The song finally builds to its climax:
My love awaits at the garden gate
At the garden gate
Where the air is warm and sweet
And the flames can't turn
Where the fire has burned
So here is where I'm free.
On "Curse the Flower", a veritable crowd of musicians is present. 9 in all. The song is a very complex look at greed and consumerism in relation to our own sinful natures. Next is "Steel and Magic" which seems to blend rootsy country with pop. Although a dangerous combination, it comes out amazing. It feels like "Films for Radio" (Over the Rhine) meets Hank Williams. And it's one of the catchiest things I've heard in a good while. "Trade My Love" is a first person account from person singing to the one they love. "Now and Then" is like a grownup lullaby, crying out to God to be our comfort when we just want to go home.
Stay with me now and then
From all sides hem me in
Sing me a song
So I can close my eyes.
Included within the song is a really cool guitar solo, which has a great effect. The album ends on "Close of the Day" which includes some really eerie sounding instruments and a backwards loop. Eerie, but oh so beautiful. The song keeps repeating verses about how good God is to us, concluding repeatedly "this is not what we deserve." The song finally builds in anticipation to the closing line for the album:
Peace like no other
Kiss of a lover
The marks of my name torn into your hands
And this is not what you deserve....
Gypsy Flat Road is only McCracken's second work and it is stunning in its depth and maturity. The album uses a lot of folk and country elements, though it's very poppy at times. She would qualify in the 40 Acres crowd, with help from Caedmon's Call's Garett Buell(percussion) and husband Derek Webb(banjo/bgv). I'm looking forward to the future work she is doing on Caedmon's Call's next album as well. Hopefully she'll get some of the exposure she deserves as one of the best female singer/songwriters in America today.
5 tocks
Similar sounding releases
2001Jill PhillipsGod & Money
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2000Wayne KirkpatrickThe Maple Room
2002Indigo GirlsBecome You
1997Julie MillerBlue Pony
