Mama’s Broke – Narrow Line
2022 – Free Dirt Records
This incredible ‘folk’ album (an utterly insufficient descriptive word/term if ever there was one) has roots so long that few if any other recordings can be compared to it. They begin in Eastern Europe, wend their way slowly across the continent to the UK and Ireland, then across the Atlantic to Appalachia where they spend considerable time picking up further nourishment before wending their way up to Novia Scotia and eventually encompassing the whole vastness of Canada. There are off shoots that thread their way to various other locations, but that enormous distance sums up this extravagantly gifted duo’s musical influences, and indeed, their proclivity for travel. The duo consists of Amy Lou Keeler on vocals, guitar, banjo, and fiddlesticks, with Lisa Maria, also on vocals, as well as fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, and cello. They are assisted by Andrew Horton, who plays upright bass on “How it Ends” and “Just Pick One,” Joe Grass on dobro on “Just Pick One” and Pierre Alexandre-Maranda, upright bass on “Narrow Line,” with production duties courtesy of Bill Garrett and Mama’s Broke. This is their second full length album following on from 2017s tremendous ‘Count the wicked,’ which in turn follows the also excellent debut e.p from 2014.
The lead and harmony vocals are both stunningly gorgeous and eerily haunting, even at times having an otherworldly, almost sinister feel; darkly beautiful if you like! Long ago when I first heard Dock Boggs 1920s recordings of songs such as ‘Country blues and ‘Sugar Babe’ the effect was similar, in fact they were the first recordings that came to mind as any sort of vague comparison on the first play of this hugely impressive recording. Those and his other early recordings had a dark eeriness in the recording process and performances of nearly a century ago that I simply could not relate to and from a time and place of which I had no comprehension. I’m now more than half a century older and probably a little more worldly than I was back then so perhaps have a little more understanding of life. This album certainly emphasises that dark, elemental world but also furnishes the little hope that we all need to try to retain our humanity, something that we can’t help but struggle with at this moment in time. Fortunately, the Mama’s Broke vocals are as beautiful as Docks were raw and primeval, but that otherworldly spookiness and powerful intensity is in so many ways reflected in ‘Narrow Line.’
The ten songs and one instrumental are all Mama’s Broke originals on this peerless album of poetic lyricism. Even the ‘love songs’ are not simple tales but are earthy stories or observations with no lyrical gloss, simply told and hard hitting. Add the lead and harmony vocals that one moment are hauntingly exquisite, even if with a sometimes-intimidating slightly unnerving element (a little like the already mentioned late great Dock), and then veer towards a strident, dominant, partial modernity, and all points in between. Then of course you have the sparse instrumentation that is often dominated by fiddle and banjo and the extraordinary, often haunting arrangements that, atmospherically at least, really do hark back to the long-gone old-time musicians. But even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Many excellent albums have some of the above elements, but I can think of disappearingly few as recordings that blend all of these elements into the quite extraordinary stew that is this song collection. Most of the time it is a deeply thoughtful, often incredibly mournful collection that despite the pervasive otherworldliness has its uplifting moments.
The album opener Just Pick One, sets the scene with its hauntingly solemn, quite spooky but lovely, lead and harmony vocals, accompanied by Joe Grass’s gorgeous dobro and Lisa Marie’s creepy fiddle, with acoustic guitar and mandolin offering full support. Between the Briar and the Rose, is a banjo and fiddle led song with strong, intense but beautiful vocals on what feels like a dark haunting tale that seems to dredge up a slightly sinister, old timey feel, but one that has an Eastern European edge at the same time; perhaps in part due to the vocal inflections contrasting with the banjo. How it ends is driven by fiddle and banjo with forceful vocals on a strikingly poetic song of a love betrayed. With very few changes and instrumental additions this could almost be turned into a ‘contemporary country song’ and one that someone from the ‘mainstream’ is bound to snap up, although in the hands of Mama’s Broke the folksy dark sadness is maintained. Pick the raisins from the paska is an excellent, lively, albeit short, fiddle driven instrumental, whilst The wreckage done gets underway with a droning fiddle intro and spooky, mournful vocals. This leads into the fiddle and banjo combination, which when added to the haunting lead and harmony vocals deepens the enigmatic quality. Final mention is of The ones I love, a beautiful acapella song on which the two women prove they need no ornamentation when blending their lead and harmony vocals into something that is eerily evocative.
I suppose for filing and promotional purposes this extraordinary album will be described with reasonable accuracy as ‘Folk’ music, which as usual, is only a miniscule part of the story. It is at times raw, always compelling folk music in much the same way as were the old timers who existed at the dawn (and before) of recorded music, such as the Carter family. At that time, they were known as ‘hillbillies’, a term that was soon seen as derogatory and eventually became ‘country and western’ and all its myriad offshoots, despite ‘folk music’ still being a more accurate description. To my ears this recording is in the same loose generic field of a similar, virtually peerless, quality, and is certainly a welcome addition to the ‘country music’ genre/s, although conversely these songs and performances would have been as equally at home in an old lost ‘holler’ as in a 21st century club, pub, bar, concert hall or somebody’s home!
I’m struggling to accept that not everyone on this planet is going to hear this incredible recording. Stylistically this is the music that these two talented young ladies have been playing since pure chance brought them together nearly a decade ago. It is their deepest, elemental feelings that have given birth to this recording and its predecessors, with presumably, little or no thought given to commercialism, simply to get the depth and purity of the music they feel out to anyone who will listen. They make their living from travelling and playing bars, concert halls or house concerts; wherever anyone wants them to play. To call them true troubadours is to state the obvious but if you listen to them, you can’t help but be moved by their words and sounds, so buy their albums and help to maintain this beautiful, evolving folk music far into the future, because I think these ladies will keep playing all the time anyone wants to listen. This is an album that tells of life, death, and many points in between, no earth-shattering message, but life enhancing all the same. Even the album cover artwork is a strongly enigmatic view through an arch of a young woman sitting on a log gazing at a dark, brooding landscape, all done in sepia tints with a Pre-Raphaelite atmosphere, in many ways echoing the feel of the album.
As I listen to this recording more it is creeping further up my list of best 21st century albums so far, but bear in mind that it was already well into the upper echelons from the very first listen! To briefly (at last) sum up, these may be all new songs but with this album these two ladies could just have written the traditional folk music that musicians will still be playing long into the future.
This already poignant recording was made the more so by the fact that it was recorded and mixed by Rob Heaney, the hugely talented engineer who sadly passed away from a heart attack on his way to the studio for a meeting with Mama’s Broke back in the middle of 2021, but what an amazing tribute to this gifted man.
Due for release 13th May 2022.
https://mamasbroke.ca/
The lead and harmony vocals are both stunningly gorgeous and eerily haunting, even at times having an otherworldly, almost sinister feel; darkly beautiful if you like! Long ago when I first heard Dock Boggs 1920s recordings of songs such as ‘Country blues and ‘Sugar Babe’ the effect was similar, in fact they were the first recordings that came to mind as any sort of vague comparison on the first play of this hugely impressive recording. Those and his other early recordings had a dark eeriness in the recording process and performances of nearly a century ago that I simply could not relate to and from a time and place of which I had no comprehension. I’m now more than half a century older and probably a little more worldly than I was back then so perhaps have a little more understanding of life. This album certainly emphasises that dark, elemental world but also furnishes the little hope that we all need to try to retain our humanity, something that we can’t help but struggle with at this moment in time. Fortunately, the Mama’s Broke vocals are as beautiful as Docks were raw and primeval, but that otherworldly spookiness and powerful intensity is in so many ways reflected in ‘Narrow Line.’
The ten songs and one instrumental are all Mama’s Broke originals on this peerless album of poetic lyricism. Even the ‘love songs’ are not simple tales but are earthy stories or observations with no lyrical gloss, simply told and hard hitting. Add the lead and harmony vocals that one moment are hauntingly exquisite, even if with a sometimes-intimidating slightly unnerving element (a little like the already mentioned late great Dock), and then veer towards a strident, dominant, partial modernity, and all points in between. Then of course you have the sparse instrumentation that is often dominated by fiddle and banjo and the extraordinary, often haunting arrangements that, atmospherically at least, really do hark back to the long-gone old-time musicians. But even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Many excellent albums have some of the above elements, but I can think of disappearingly few as recordings that blend all of these elements into the quite extraordinary stew that is this song collection. Most of the time it is a deeply thoughtful, often incredibly mournful collection that despite the pervasive otherworldliness has its uplifting moments.
The album opener Just Pick One, sets the scene with its hauntingly solemn, quite spooky but lovely, lead and harmony vocals, accompanied by Joe Grass’s gorgeous dobro and Lisa Marie’s creepy fiddle, with acoustic guitar and mandolin offering full support. Between the Briar and the Rose, is a banjo and fiddle led song with strong, intense but beautiful vocals on what feels like a dark haunting tale that seems to dredge up a slightly sinister, old timey feel, but one that has an Eastern European edge at the same time; perhaps in part due to the vocal inflections contrasting with the banjo. How it ends is driven by fiddle and banjo with forceful vocals on a strikingly poetic song of a love betrayed. With very few changes and instrumental additions this could almost be turned into a ‘contemporary country song’ and one that someone from the ‘mainstream’ is bound to snap up, although in the hands of Mama’s Broke the folksy dark sadness is maintained. Pick the raisins from the paska is an excellent, lively, albeit short, fiddle driven instrumental, whilst The wreckage done gets underway with a droning fiddle intro and spooky, mournful vocals. This leads into the fiddle and banjo combination, which when added to the haunting lead and harmony vocals deepens the enigmatic quality. Final mention is of The ones I love, a beautiful acapella song on which the two women prove they need no ornamentation when blending their lead and harmony vocals into something that is eerily evocative.
I suppose for filing and promotional purposes this extraordinary album will be described with reasonable accuracy as ‘Folk’ music, which as usual, is only a miniscule part of the story. It is at times raw, always compelling folk music in much the same way as were the old timers who existed at the dawn (and before) of recorded music, such as the Carter family. At that time, they were known as ‘hillbillies’, a term that was soon seen as derogatory and eventually became ‘country and western’ and all its myriad offshoots, despite ‘folk music’ still being a more accurate description. To my ears this recording is in the same loose generic field of a similar, virtually peerless, quality, and is certainly a welcome addition to the ‘country music’ genre/s, although conversely these songs and performances would have been as equally at home in an old lost ‘holler’ as in a 21st century club, pub, bar, concert hall or somebody’s home!
I’m struggling to accept that not everyone on this planet is going to hear this incredible recording. Stylistically this is the music that these two talented young ladies have been playing since pure chance brought them together nearly a decade ago. It is their deepest, elemental feelings that have given birth to this recording and its predecessors, with presumably, little or no thought given to commercialism, simply to get the depth and purity of the music they feel out to anyone who will listen. They make their living from travelling and playing bars, concert halls or house concerts; wherever anyone wants them to play. To call them true troubadours is to state the obvious but if you listen to them, you can’t help but be moved by their words and sounds, so buy their albums and help to maintain this beautiful, evolving folk music far into the future, because I think these ladies will keep playing all the time anyone wants to listen. This is an album that tells of life, death, and many points in between, no earth-shattering message, but life enhancing all the same. Even the album cover artwork is a strongly enigmatic view through an arch of a young woman sitting on a log gazing at a dark, brooding landscape, all done in sepia tints with a Pre-Raphaelite atmosphere, in many ways echoing the feel of the album.
As I listen to this recording more it is creeping further up my list of best 21st century albums so far, but bear in mind that it was already well into the upper echelons from the very first listen! To briefly (at last) sum up, these may be all new songs but with this album these two ladies could just have written the traditional folk music that musicians will still be playing long into the future.
This already poignant recording was made the more so by the fact that it was recorded and mixed by Rob Heaney, the hugely talented engineer who sadly passed away from a heart attack on his way to the studio for a meeting with Mama’s Broke back in the middle of 2021, but what an amazing tribute to this gifted man.
Due for release 13th May 2022.
https://mamasbroke.ca/
