Laura Cantrell
Not the Tremblin' Kind
[Diesel Only]
Rating: 7.4
Not long after its official origins in the early 1900's, country music quickly
began to endure the vicious cycle of having its authenticity tainted by
commercial compromise, then redeemed, however fleetingly, by some "underground"
roots movement. And it's a relief to hear so many of those redeeming qualities
in the voice of Laura Cantrell, a city gal who celebrates country tradition in
her music even as she augments it.
Cantrell reclaims the essence of country songwriting, but she also puts subtle
twists on familiar slice-of-life songs about whiskey drinkin', relationships
gone sour, livin' on the road, and simple girl-wants-boy longing. Her music,
whether inherently sad or jubilant, is always delivered with convincing
sincerity. She's also not afraid to explore uncomfortable psychological
truths in intimate and eloquent detail. Such affecting down-home realism, of
course, is always glossed over by the homogenous evil of the "new" Nashville
country. But contrary to country tradition, Cantrell sings no songs about
blowing away her spouse with a shotgun 'cause she loved him. It's just not
her style.
Anyone who's heard Cantrell's weekly WFMU New Jersey radio show, "Thrift Shop
Radio," knows she has impeccable taste in country songwriters. On Not the
Tremblin' Kind, she chooses to filter great songs by George Usher, Amy
Allison, and Joe Flood through her supple vocal cords. And although her own
writing talents are evident, this album contains only four originals-- the
standout, "Queen of the Coast," is a tear-jerker about a small-town singer
whose vague dreams of stardom succumb to routine, old age, and bungled
marriages.
Comparisons to a young Dolly Parton or Kitty Wells seem justified enough, as
Cantrell possesses a heartbreakingly sweet voice without being cloying in the
way, say, Olivia Newton-John was during her frightening early 70's country
phase. True, Cantrell may not have the voluminous pipes of a powerhouse
vocalist like Tammy Wynette or Rosanne Cash, but we're not talking about the
feeble peep of some Dixie Chick here, either.
In fact, on "The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter," Cantrell floors with her lilting
phrasing-- singing of the strange aphrodisiac effects of that favorite
country-song libation. This could easily be an answer to Loretta Lynn's
"Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (with Lovin' on Your Mind)." A Byrdsy 12-string
flourish prefaces "Do You Ever Think of Me?," which is more a conventional
60's pop tune than anything else, with its lively, un-country Farfisa lines
bouncing around the verses. The title track could be the anti-"Stand by Your
Man," considering defiant sentiments like: "You want me to get down on my
knees, and beg for just a little sympathy/ You want me to go to bed defeated
and resigned/ Oh, no, I'm not the tremblin' kind."
Then there's the rousing country-rock of "Pile of Woe," whose bright orange
sunrise chords and uptempo rhythms reinforce faint hope of deliverance from
the world's misery: "This whole world's a mess a trouble," she sings, just
before that great refrain, "But I'm lookin' out for rain in every grain of
hope I sow, plowin' this pile of woe." Pure gen-u-wine country-fried poe'try,
friend.
Instead of applying the old-school production ethic of distancing the singer's
voice with lonesome reverb, producer Jay Sherman-Godfrey lays off the effects
board and goes for stark intimacy. This approach accentuates and isolates
Cantrell's voice, so that at times, you get a sense of her delivery being
tentative, as if she's unsure of her range. Ultimately, though, this heightened
vulnerability seems to work in Cantrell's favor: even her slight vocal
inadequacies become endearing after awhile.
And too bad Cantrell couldn't employ multi-instrumentalist Jon Graboff's weepy
steel guitar more often. His style is lifted right off Sweetheart of the
Rodeo and could've made up for the less-than-inspired electric guitar.
Graboff also turns in some impressive Doc Watson-style acoustic flatpicking.
And his ubiquitous mandolin playing is as easy on the ears as Cantrell's
singing, as its accompanying melodies frolic endlessly behind the vocals. For
the most part, Not the Tremblin' Kind features the sort of
instrumentation and arrangement you'd find on the most classic of
traditionalist country albums-- the focus being mainly on the voice and
lyrics, with unobtrusive acoustic guitar and mandolin carrying most of the
lead instrumental duties.
But again, this is not 50's Nashville or even the 60's Bakersfield sound being
faithfully updated. The spirit of Gram Parsons, and the influence of other
country-rock innovators like Emmylou Harris can be heard as well, as Cantrell
juggles her neo-hillbilly roots (hell, she was actually born in Nashville)
with her more cosmopolitan pop/rock instincts. Although not a flawless album,
Not the Tremblin' Kind can still measure up pretty well to most of the
revered alt-country releases of the last decade: albums such as Freakwater's
Old Paint, the Blood Oranges' Corn River, and Victoria Williams'
Loose. And it damn sure beats any neo-country slop Son Volt, the
Jayhawks or the Handsome Family could ever shovel up, no matter how hard those
college-rockers try to sound hick.
-Michael Sandlin