Ladies from the present and past with ideas bouncing off of the walls.
Eilen Jewell plays guitar and sings as she leads a core band of Jason Beek/dr, Jerry Miller/g and Shawn Supra/b along with a Wagnerian collection of guests on this release. The sounds range from earthy tunes reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater on “Crawl” to two stepping Patsy Cline moods as on “These Blues” and “You Cared Enough To Lie.” Her voice is strong and VFW-toned, with the band sometimes sounding like a 80s New Wave team on “Working Hard For Your Love,” giving some steel pedal Nashville sounds the folksy “Beat The Drum” and giving a stark noir atmosphere for “Who Else But You.”Walking before and after midnight.
These two albums from Cindy Lee Berryhill are arguably the high water mark of her career that mixes sounds of folk, minstrel and even Beach Boys. The one time girlfriend of Paul Williams created a genre labeled “anti-folk” for its unique sound and attitude. 1994’s Garage Orchestra includes a tender elegy to Brian Wilson on “Song For Brian” while the clever protest piece “I Want Stuff” has a hard and edgy attitude. Her voice is an acquired taste, getting scratchy on “UFO Suite” and sounding like it’s talent night at McCabes on “Gary Handeman.” The 1996 followup ranges from an amazingly rich “Unwritten Love Song” and “California” to a hippie’d “Just Like Me” and a cover of Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch.” Both reissues are chock full of unreleased instrumentals, run throughs and songs that fall through the cracks. Didn’t I see her at the Renaissance Faire?