Gillian Welch
Soul Journey
Acony 50466 6868 2
By Marianne Ebertowski
 When
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings played the Ancienne Belgique
Club in Brussels about four years ago, I took a friend with me
who instantaneously fell in love with everything about Gillian,
especially her ears. When the show was over, there was no holding
him back: he just had to be in a picture with Gillian. After
that had been taken care of, he tried to convince an amused David
Rawlings that his partner had great ears. I guess David had already
discovered that a long time ago and benevolently signed my friend's
copy of Hell Among The Yearlings not only with his name,
but also with "Great Ears!"
This was the first thing that came to mind when I picked up
a copy of Gillian's new album Soul Journey featuring on
the back her portrait with a cowboy hat riding her ... great
ears. And, let's face it, what could possibly be more relevant
to a singer/songwriter than great ears, apart from a great voice,
I suppose, which is another thing Gillian Welch is blessed with.
Her spectacularly controlled delivery seems to have been created
for singing the sort of old time music, bluegrass, folk and (acoustic)
country she has designated so far as her territory.
But, then again, behind every great woman there's a great
man (or sometimes another great woman), and in Gillian's case
the greatness of David Rawling's modest self-effacing personality
has proven to be priceless: his effortless and inventive guitar
playing and his smooth harmonies were very much the driving force
behind this new Gillian Welch project. But a word of warning,
whoever expected Gillian Welch's new effort to be another Hell
or Revival or Time (The Revelator) will be
disappointed or, at best, surprised. Soul Journey is more
a modern folk (rock) album than another mysterious old time excursion.
Also, David Rawlings' presence is less obvious than on its predecessors.
Maybe the reason for all this is that Soul Journey is Ms. Welch's
most personal album so far: it's her soul she's traveling with
and into, after all. And it looks as if Rawlings has realized
and accepted this, maybe even long before she did, and actually
encouraged her to put out tracks she had previously recorded
solo, among them the two traditionals "Make Me A Pallet
On Your Floor" and "I Had A Real Good Mother And Father."
In a way, David Rawlings is more present than ever: as a producer,
a co-writer of most songs and as a multi-instrumentalist he has
done the exquisite job only he could do. You can say of him what
is often said about the best team players in sports: they better
the performance of those around them. Rawlings clearly brings
out the best in Welch and does so in a manner that perhaps undesiredly
highlights his natural humility.
In truth, there was already a hint for the musical change
of direction to come on Time (The Revelator), right there
in the brilliant but oddly out of place sounding "I Want
To Sing That Rock And Roll." That celebrant live track taken
from the Down From The Mountain concert featured Rawlings
playing the living daylight out of his 1935 Epiphone.
And now Gillian Welch's Soul Journey starts where "I
Want To Sing That Rock And Roll" left off. "I wanna
do right but not right now," the rebellious words Gillian
places into the mouth of "Miss Ohio," are pushed along
by the driving force of Son Volt's Jim Bocquist on electric bass
and introduced by the seductive sounds of Greg Leisz's dobro.
The wanna-do-right-but-not-right-now attitude delves deeper in
"Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor," best known in
the versions of Woody Guthrie or Mississippi John Hurt. Gillian's
offering is a stunning solo performance featuring her trademark,
the "slowest yodel in the world," and her best guitar
playing to date. "Babe I'm broke and I got nowhere to go,"
she appends to the venerable lyric, and sounds that way as she
makes the song her own.
"When I got to Nashville/It was too much soldier's joy,"
Welch explains in "Wayside/Back In Time," a song that
- with its B-3 organ intro, drums and fiddle (Ketchum Secor)
- sounds like a tape discovered somewhere in the basement of
Big Pink. There's more electric and electrifying stuff like "One
Monkey," a bluesy piece where Welch, initially accompanying
herself only on acoustic guitar, is joined halfway through by
the rest of the band.
The heart of the album consists of two songs. The one half
of the heart is the twenties gospel "I Had A Real Good Mother
and Father," the other "No One Knows My Name,"
the song in which Welch reveals her adoption story. The striking
thing about this song is the fact that its melody is identical
with A.P. Carter's "Motherless Children." Is this a
reference made in homage, a chestnut for the faithful not mentioned
in the liner notes, or is it Gillian's subconscious playing a
trick on her? Welch and Rawlings are extremely knowledgeable
about old time music and they are certainly no thieves. So, this
is interesting. And there is more interesting food for thought
here. The traditional's lyrics are:
I had a real good mother and father/ they surely stood
the test....they set a good example for me/they taught me how
to pray/now I am truely converted and walking on the narrow way/I
know that if I cannot meet them on high/how lonely I would be
/for what good is my journey/ if I miss out on eternity?
The last two lines are added by Welch. Do they add doubt as
far as the journey on the narrow way is concerned? Maybe the
answer is found in the traditional's personal counterpiece "
No One Knows My Name:"
O my mother was just a girl of seventeen/and my dad was
passing through/doing things a man will do./ when my mother was
just a girl of seventeen /It's a wonder that I'm in this world
at all/...and I have a life to claim/ no, I really don't know
my name / it's a wonder I'm on this world at all/Ain't one soul
in the whole world knows my name ...
Here David Rawlings' soothing voice comes in and together
they continue:
but it's written up in the sky and I see it by and by.
Ain't one soul knows my name .
Then the lyrics cleverly link up with the traditional's:
well I had a good mother and dad just the same /and they
took me to their breast and they surely stood the test ...ain't
one soul. in the whole wide world knows my name/ just another
baby born to a girl lost and lorn/ain't one soul in the whole
wide world knows my name/ now and then there's a lonesone thought
in my mind/ and on the crowd in the street /I see a strange face
that looks like me .
This is so incredibly well-crafted without losing its emotional
intensity, it makes a grown (wo)man weep.
The traditional's (added) puzzle:
I know that if I cannot meet them on high/how lonely I
would be /for what good is my journey/ if I miss out on eternity
finds its solution in a slow process of understanding and
forgiving:
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name ..but it's
written up in the sky and I'll see it by and by.
Brilliant, and it's getting better. If these two songs are
the beating heart of Soul Journey, "Lowlands" makes
it a triumphant trilogy. Melodically it builds further on "No
One Knows My Name" (or should I say "Motherless Children")
and lyrically it does as well.
O I've been in the lowlands too long/ I know that I should
go/ .../this is not how it works at the start/ there's a doubt
and a blame in my heart/ and it's no one else/ no fault but my
own/ that I've been in the lowlands too long /.../ what is this
weight on my mind /what is this new sense of time /it's the open
fields and the friends that are gone.but I can''t do right and
I know that I'm wrong/but I know I've been in the lowlands too
long
It sounds almost as if Welch by going back to her origin has
liberated herself from the gloom and doom of the "Lowlands"
and can now pass on to happier things, even if doing right might
not yet be for right now.
The perspective of "doing right" is further illuminated
in "One Little Song," written by Gillian alone without
her partner Dave. It's a beautiful little song about songwriting
which breathes the graceful and optimistic innocence of Tom Paxton's
best work:
There's gotta be a song left to sing/ cause everybody can't
have thought of everything/One little song that ain't been sung/
one little rag that ain't been wrung out completely yet./till's
nothing left/.one little note that ain't been used/ one little
word that ain't abused a thousand times in a thousand rhymes
/one little drop of falling rain/one little chance to try again...
After this little jewel Welch continues in a folky mood with
the beautiful and mournful "Made A Lover's Prayer,"
the only real duet song on the album, a sweet and soulful piece
with blasting harmonica play.
Then it's time for the grand finale: "Wrecking Ball"
(a Welch/Rawlings composition, not the Neil Young song made famous
by Emmylou Harris). For this occasion, all the musicians involved
in the album turn up to play on Gillian's (I was just a little
Deadhead with too much trouble for me to share) party. And
they're having a real blast: drums, fiddle, guitars and a scorching
B-3 deliver a gripping soundtrack while the whole journey passes
once more in front of Gillian's eyes.
Soul Journey is an album of self-liberation and celebration.
Welch travelled deep into her soul, confronted herself with her
past and came out realizing that she'd been "in the lowlands
too long." Whether that is really "no fault but her
own" is another story. Life's a bitch, after all. Spending
life in the "lowlands" is not a waste of time. Often
it is inevitable and, sometimes, even necessary. In Welch's case
it has given us three incredible albums. Soul Journey is
a new start. I don't expect Gillian to deliver happy albums from
now on. Personal lowlands tend to never quite disappear and of
course there are always other people's lowlands to write and
sing about. Gillian Welch's talent and crafts(wo)manship that
allow her as a songwriter to tackle pain and sorrow in whatever
historical or sociological context she chooses are almost beyond
comparison. Wherever her next soul journey will take her, on
this one she has done "right right now."
(with apologies to Gillian and David for maybe not always
having quoted the lyrics accurately - a lyric sheet would have
helped)
www.gillianwelch.com
Contact Marianne Ebertowski at ebertowski-at-rockzilla.net
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