MELISSA RUTH & THE LIKELY STORIES –
AIN’T NO WHISKEY

2012 – Self Released
4.5****
In all my decades as a music fan it never ceases to amaze me when I stumble across another huge talent who is virtually unknown (or certainly is to me!) and I just wonder why, with all that talent, they are not household names!
My musical preferences have always gone in the direction of people who don’t kow tow to the preconceived ideas of the big commercial companies, instead ‘staying true to themselves’ and their own fully formed vision of the music they feel more comfortable with and have some control over. These indeterminate boxes are all ticked by this highly talented singer songwriter, along with the other two members of her band who contribute so much to her highly individual sound.
This is a gorgeous album of pretty much unique, ‘Doo wop twang.’ That is Melissa’s own name for this generic field and as this trio are pretty much the only members, will have to suffice in the absence of anything more appropriate! She is reminiscent in various ways of artists such as Rickie Lee Jones, Lucinda Williams and even a little of Chrissie Hynde. Fairly obviously these are all very loose comparisons but my guess is that if you like any of them but think they sometimes overdo the
instrumentation, you will love Melissa! The recording contains sparse beautifully chiming and twanging guitars, lovely character laden, expressive feminine vocals and some tremendously well
written songs. Melissa really is a huge talent who will hopefully soon be known to many more, or certainly should be!
The band consists of Melissa on rhythm guitar and vocals, Johnny Leal plays some highly skilled lead, slide and rhythm guitar as well as bass whilst the excellent Jimmy Leal is on drums. Everything has a lovely open sound on which nothing gets in the way of Melissa’s vocals but at the same time the instruments have a lovely separation and clarity which allows them to shine and get the best out of the gorgeous melodies, a testament to Melissa’s superb production techniques. You need a lot of confidence in your ability to portray your songs when instrumentation is this sparse and it is that sparseness that allows the warm, sensual emotion and maturity of Melissa’s vocals and the quality of her poetically evocative lyrics to shine through and guide everything on this excellent album.
The tempo of the album, whilst slow and moody, always has a quite gripping feel to it with the ability to create an evocation of the various emotions and actions depicted within these nine tremendous songs. Drive In The Rain, the very first song on the album sets the scene for what is to follow with it’s lovely twangy chiming guitar alongside steel guitar plus subtle supportive percussion, on a tale of a woman who has had enough of life as a coal miners lover and is ‘heading out west.’ It is a powerful song, as is the guitar playing, and you actually get a sense of travelling through wide open arid spaces to get to where she wants to go. Write Me A Love Song has an almost chirpy upbeat feel on an evocative tale of a ‘Rocky Mountain girl’ and a ‘Sandy Bottom boy’ whose lives go in different directions, a song that continues the lovely chiming guitar sound, supported by a steady thrumming bass and brushed snare and including a lovely melodic guitar solo. Ain’t Found It Yet, musically has a nice mellow sound, but as with her other songs the lyrics are anything but. The melodic guitar, bass and soft drums slowly propel a really good song about someone in a perpetual state of confusion, who
no matter how hard she searches just can’t find what she is looking for! Melissa’s expressive vocals seem to emanate a feeling of frustration that the character in the song obviously feels during a long and unremitting search that many of us have been through at some stage of our lives. There is a gorgeous moody guitar sound on Willing To Fall, a tale of someone who abandons herself to her feelings despite knowing she shouldn’t and I’m guessing that the mid tempo but sparse, Dusty
Boxcar a chirpy upbeat story could well be a biographical snippet!.
It’s always difficult to define ‘originality’ in a recording but this has more than most and certainly contains an incredibly well balanced individuality that is less prevalent in modern music than it once was. The lyrics are beautifully contructed, the instrumentation is open and skillfully played, with Jimmy Leal’s subtle, tasteful drumming underpinning everything and Johnny’s incredible mastery of the guitar adding colour and atmosphere at just the right moments, whilst Melissa’s vocals are chock full of character and femininity. Her production of this tremendous
album, with it’s clarity and sparseness, gives a recording that easily carries itself, a further lift. Brilliant album!
http://melissaruthmusic.com/
4.5****
In all my decades as a music fan it never ceases to amaze me when I stumble across another huge talent who is virtually unknown (or certainly is to me!) and I just wonder why, with all that talent, they are not household names!
My musical preferences have always gone in the direction of people who don’t kow tow to the preconceived ideas of the big commercial companies, instead ‘staying true to themselves’ and their own fully formed vision of the music they feel more comfortable with and have some control over. These indeterminate boxes are all ticked by this highly talented singer songwriter, along with the other two members of her band who contribute so much to her highly individual sound.
This is a gorgeous album of pretty much unique, ‘Doo wop twang.’ That is Melissa’s own name for this generic field and as this trio are pretty much the only members, will have to suffice in the absence of anything more appropriate! She is reminiscent in various ways of artists such as Rickie Lee Jones, Lucinda Williams and even a little of Chrissie Hynde. Fairly obviously these are all very loose comparisons but my guess is that if you like any of them but think they sometimes overdo the
instrumentation, you will love Melissa! The recording contains sparse beautifully chiming and twanging guitars, lovely character laden, expressive feminine vocals and some tremendously well
written songs. Melissa really is a huge talent who will hopefully soon be known to many more, or certainly should be!
The band consists of Melissa on rhythm guitar and vocals, Johnny Leal plays some highly skilled lead, slide and rhythm guitar as well as bass whilst the excellent Jimmy Leal is on drums. Everything has a lovely open sound on which nothing gets in the way of Melissa’s vocals but at the same time the instruments have a lovely separation and clarity which allows them to shine and get the best out of the gorgeous melodies, a testament to Melissa’s superb production techniques. You need a lot of confidence in your ability to portray your songs when instrumentation is this sparse and it is that sparseness that allows the warm, sensual emotion and maturity of Melissa’s vocals and the quality of her poetically evocative lyrics to shine through and guide everything on this excellent album.
The tempo of the album, whilst slow and moody, always has a quite gripping feel to it with the ability to create an evocation of the various emotions and actions depicted within these nine tremendous songs. Drive In The Rain, the very first song on the album sets the scene for what is to follow with it’s lovely twangy chiming guitar alongside steel guitar plus subtle supportive percussion, on a tale of a woman who has had enough of life as a coal miners lover and is ‘heading out west.’ It is a powerful song, as is the guitar playing, and you actually get a sense of travelling through wide open arid spaces to get to where she wants to go. Write Me A Love Song has an almost chirpy upbeat feel on an evocative tale of a ‘Rocky Mountain girl’ and a ‘Sandy Bottom boy’ whose lives go in different directions, a song that continues the lovely chiming guitar sound, supported by a steady thrumming bass and brushed snare and including a lovely melodic guitar solo. Ain’t Found It Yet, musically has a nice mellow sound, but as with her other songs the lyrics are anything but. The melodic guitar, bass and soft drums slowly propel a really good song about someone in a perpetual state of confusion, who
no matter how hard she searches just can’t find what she is looking for! Melissa’s expressive vocals seem to emanate a feeling of frustration that the character in the song obviously feels during a long and unremitting search that many of us have been through at some stage of our lives. There is a gorgeous moody guitar sound on Willing To Fall, a tale of someone who abandons herself to her feelings despite knowing she shouldn’t and I’m guessing that the mid tempo but sparse, Dusty
Boxcar a chirpy upbeat story could well be a biographical snippet!.
It’s always difficult to define ‘originality’ in a recording but this has more than most and certainly contains an incredibly well balanced individuality that is less prevalent in modern music than it once was. The lyrics are beautifully contructed, the instrumentation is open and skillfully played, with Jimmy Leal’s subtle, tasteful drumming underpinning everything and Johnny’s incredible mastery of the guitar adding colour and atmosphere at just the right moments, whilst Melissa’s vocals are chock full of character and femininity. Her production of this tremendous
album, with it’s clarity and sparseness, gives a recording that easily carries itself, a further lift. Brilliant album!
http://melissaruthmusic.com/