Stephen Fearing, Doug Paisley, and Jackie K
Stephen Fearing
Vejpoesi // Record Centre Records
Vejpoesi means “Road Poems” in Danish, and the title of this new record from acclaimed singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing has more than a few songs that are textbook examples of road poetry — nothing is more road-poetic than a song titled “Red Lights in the Rain”, wouldn’t you say?
This is not quite a double album, but it is almost two records: one half of the disk is “The Maskinhallen Session”, a collaboration with acclaimed Danish group The Sentimentals that Fearing and the band recorded in May 2022 in a converted electrical generating station in Frederikshavn. The other half of the disk is a solo set from Fearing recorded in 2018 at The Mule Spinner, a performance space in Hamilton. The Mule Spinner set was recorded by the late Bob Lanois and his co-owner and collaborator Glen Marshall.
So, let’s look at what unites and divides this two-in-one treat. First, obviously, is the voice, playing, and writing of Fearing. The five Maskinhallen songs are all Fearing compositions, most from 2019’s The Unconquerable Past; the Mule Spinner session songs are a mix of solo compositions and cowrites, plus Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain.”
It’s not possible to my ears to hear a difference between Fearing’s 2018 and 2022 voice other than differences in recording technique, so the warmth, articulation, and charisma he brings to songs is consistent.
What divides the two halves? Obviously, Fearing with The Sentimentals is a different thing from Fearing on his own. The three-piece Sentimentals have become a bit legendary in the roots world after acclaimed collaborations with artists including Jonathan Byrd and Ana Egge. Not surprisingly, they integrate their playing into Fearing’s songs seamlessly; this is not a reinvention of Stephen Fearing music, but an enhancement with the unique quality they bring to the table.
Perhaps the word to characterize the Fearing-Sentimentals work is one I used for his vocals: articulation. Sentimentals members MC Hansen (vocals, electric guitar), Nikolaj Wolf (basses) and Jacob Chano (vocals, percussion) bring a precision and articulation to their playing that matches Fearing’s own; a thoughtful accompaniment that isn’t robotic or soulless, but doesn’t sacrifice serving the song for showing off or virtuosity. It’s not quite minimalism, but I don’t think they’d disagree with Robert Browning’s famous “Less is more” dictum.
The final thing that seems to unite both ‘sides’ of Vejpoesi is feel. This isn’t a greatest-hits selection from Fearing; more likely a greatest-groove selection. From the introspective “Sunny” to the rockabilly rollicker “Christine” to the blue-eyed soul of “Someone Else’s Shoes”. What brings all the songs together is feel, groove, swing — whatever the word is, it’s fair to say that there are no tracks padding out time here. Each one feels like it was given serious attention in rehearsal, performance, and production.
The Mule Spinner songs are classic Fearing, with his powerful voice and adept guitar being reproduced with a sound worthy of a Lanois production: clear, present, and soaked in warm reverb. The guitar playing is as good as what you would expect from Fearing. I particularly enjoyed his arrangement of “Early Morning Rain”, which introduces some new chords that I suspect even Gord himself would appreciate.
This is Fearing’s fourteenth solo release and twenty-seventh overall record, and what you’re going to hear on Vejpoesi is not an artist coasting on fumes, but one pursuing excellence in the crafts of writing, playing and singing, alone and in good company. What more can you ask from music?
- Bob LeDrew.
Doug Paisley
Say What You Like // Outside Music
Fans of Doug Paisley have been waiting since 2018 for a new record, and Say What You Like is it. Fans of this Ontario artist are likely not going to be surprised that this record is an evolution, not a revolution, in Paisley’s writing and sound. Since 2008’s No Quarter, his first recording, Paisley has stuck to what he knows: solidly crafted songs that are by turns introspections and explorations of intimate relationships.
What is worth noting about Say What You Like is the influence of producer Afie Jurvanen and the presence of several members of Jurvanen’s Bahamas band, including Jurvanen and Christine Bougie on guitars, drummer Don Kerr, and Felicity Williams adding harmony vocals. Also contributing to the record are veterans Michael Eckert, Don Rooke, and Darcy Yates.
I suppose the worst-case scenario here could have been a Bahamas record with a different lead vocalist, but that’s not what you get with Say What You Like at all. Where Bahamas tends to soulful 70s singer-songwriter grooves, this record is rooted in straightforward folk, Americana and country-western vibes, recorded with the intimacy of a whisper in bed.
The title tune (which is also the first single released) has acoustic guitar runs that make clear why one of the record’s two dedications is to bluegrass guitar legend Tony Rice (the other is to Dallas Good). And while there are more extraverted songs on the record, Say What You Like strives for an achieves intimacy and introspection in writing and production.
On songs like “Rewrite History”, “Almost”, and “You Turn My Life Around”, the vocals are recorded from a seeming millimeter away, and Paisley and Williams are almost whispering their lines into your ears. The bridge of “You Turn My Life Around”, where Paisley switches his voice from first-person singular “I” to the plural “we” and Williams joins in, is worth the price of the record on its own.
Christine Bougie, one of my favorite guitar players, uses their instrument to generate punctuation marks to lines, mixing staccato and legato playing masterfully; the one characteristic that producer Jurvanen carries into this project from Bahamas is precision: the playing is right there; the grooves are put together like a watch that you see on Antiques Road Show.
In the end, this record is about the songs themselves. Paisley’s vocals and the musicianship are understated in the extreme, a decision I interpret as Paisley and Jurvanen subtly suggesting that the listener should listen to the songs very carefully indeed. When one does that, you hear the work that Paisley did in writing them with the simplest of words but conveying a depth of emotion and thought. Three-syllable words are unusual on Say What You Like; as far as I could find, there are only two four-syllable words (“complicated” and “catastrophe”, for the record). It takes work and artistic courage to use such short, simple language to explore deep subjects and powerful emotions.
When I listened to Say What You Like, I heard things that made me think of Gordon Lightfoot and Fred Eaglesmith, but without the epic ambitions of Lightfoot or the raucousness of Eaglesmith. This record is almost chamber-folk: a record for listening to alone in a room with your best headphones on and a willingness to be carried away to the small worlds created by a master songwriter’s imagination. I suspect the more times someone does that, the more they’ll get out of the experience.
- Bob LeDrew
Jackie K
She’s a Story // Self-released
Giving a voice to all the hard partying suburban moms out there (if dad rock is a genre, so is cool mom), Jackie K has crafted an adorable, diverse album from a perspective largely unrepresented in the music industry. There’s something particularly affecting about hearing songs written about common experience, especially coming from an artist so refreshingly authentic in their songwriting. While I definitely can’t personally relate to everything expressed lyrically on She’s a Story, I spent much of my time listening to this record thinking fondly of the various mothers I’ve known in my life, and being happy that someone was representing in song (very eloquently I might add) many of their shared experiences.
Aside from being a mother of four, Jackie K also works as a music teacher in North Battleford, and it shows. There’s a remarkable amount of musical diversity on this album, which hops genres on almost every track, covering 70’s sunshine pop (“When You Almost Didn’t Love Me,” “Ready to Be Alone,”) blues (“I’m the Queen”) John Prine style country folk (the endearing duet on retirement age domestic bliss “We Can’t Quit”) and soul (“Sister Stone”). Throughout it all she proves a more-than-capable facility for writing great chord progressions and melodies, and some genuinely masterful choruses. The divorcee freedom anthem “Ready to Be Alone” is a particular standout, capturing a genuine vibe that I can imagine really connecting for a lot of women out there, and coupled with a ridiculously catchy chorus hook.
Her current single, “I’m the Queen” is a cute-as-hell explication on feminine majesty, a declaration of domestic dominion over your own small patch that anyone who’s ever had to raise a family or run a household is sure to appreciate. It’s no coincidence that this record was dropped on International Women’s Day. In every song it celebrates the lives of women, and the daily struggles that they overcome, or are overcome by. With May 14th on the near horizon, it’s this writer's opinion that She’s A Story would make an excellent gift for the mom in your life.
- Shaun Lee
