Julie Lee
Stillhouse Road
Compadre Records 6-16892-60242-2
By Marianne Ebertowski
 There is some great
music coming out of Nashville these days. Not from Music Row,
mind you, but from the fringe inhabited by veterans like the
Millers and talented newcomers like Julie Lee. Lee's official
debut album Stillhouse Road is a gorgeous, genre-defying
masterpiece of acoustic American music. It demonstrates the seemingly
effortless ability of the Maryland-native singer-songwriter to
mix jazz, folk, blues, country, bluegrass and pop and turn it
into something so beautiful and heartfelt that you cannot walk
away from it shrugging your shoulders.
On top of that, Julie Lee has a voice to die for. She sounds
like Alison Krauss with an edge, like Nanci Griffith with a twist,
like Gillian Welch without the haunting spookiness, all at the
same time. Backed by a bunch of great musicians like Alison Krauss
(who has recorded her songs), Vince Gill, resonator slide guitar
player Colin Linden (O Brother Where Art Thou?), dobroist
Rob Ickes and Tammy Rodgers on fiddle and mandolin, Lee sparkles
as a new, shining star of acoustic country music.
The title song, featuring Vince Gill on harmony vocal, Rob
Ickes on dobro and Tammy Rodgers and Jonathan Yudkin on twin
fiddles, is typical for the enduring appeal of Julie Lee's songs;
they ring sweetly on the ear without being trivial. You want
to rewind immediately after you heard them and, at the same time,
you can't wait for the next. Gill, Ickes and Rodgers feature
also prominently on the gorgeous country/bluegrasspop of "Another
You." Alison Krauss makes a guest- appearance as harmony
vocalist on the hard folk of "Many Waters." It is an
almost unearthly beautiful song about love and jealously, where
Lee's voice sounds as strong and strong-willed as is humanly
possible, with Yudkin's fiddle discreetly backing up the emotions.
Something completely different is "Made from Scratch,"
a Western swing tune with Larry Franklin and Jonathan Yudkin
starring on fiddle and banjo respectively. Here Lee sounds belligerent
and ready to defend her cornmeal bread like her mother and grandmother
did before. In the sweet and tender country-folk of "Your
Love," Lee excels like a countrified Joni Mitchell.
"Beautiful Night," a jazz-inflected tune sung with
a delicate vibrato, is arguably the most perfect little gem among
all the album's delights. Lee cleverly borrows lines from "Holy
Night, Silent Night" and weaves them beautifully into the
text structure. Franklin's warm fiddle playing gives it a porch
bench coziness that makes you feel you want to be there on the
porch with Miss Lee and her friends to watch the stars.
More diversity follows with "Soapbox," featuring
bassist Dave Peterson on harmony vocal. Here the band keeps the
middle between bluegrass and honky-tonk. Next is "Sojourner
Truth," a frail blues ballad with a gospel tint. With Ickes
on Dobro again as the main man, Pat McGrath on acoustic guitar,
Dave Pomery on bass and Jonathan Yudkin on mandolin and harmonica,
it is slightly reminiscent of the Cowboy Junkies' best work.
Many of Lee's songs have a religious undertone, so a real
gospel number does not come as a surprise. "He's my Man,"
with a magnificent introduction by Colin Linden on Resonator
guitar that has drawn musical inspiration from "Amazing
Grace," is just as magnificently and triumphantly interpreted
by Lee. It's a testimony of such unshakable faith that even a
non-believer feels touched by its intensity.
The biblical path is continued with "James," a song
based on the story of Cain and Able. It's a dark tune with mandolin
by Franklin, Ickes on Dobro and Peterson on harmony vocal, where
Lee sounds so angry and frustrated that it cuts right to the
bone. Larry Franklin's fiddle playing comes as close to John
Cale's disturbing Velvet Underground sound as country music can
get.
With the final two songs, the music box is gently closed.
"Winter," a tender, melancholy, slightly Mexican-tinged
tune is so frail, it almost seems to melt in your ears. Pat McGrath
on acoustic guitar and Richard McLaurin with his Latin-flavored
"shaker" carry Julie Lee's voice over the thin ice
layer like faithful guardian angels.
The closer "'Til the Cows Come Home" is a moving,
delicate love song for someone who has disappeared without a
trace, but the singer refuses to give up hope that he will return
one day.
And it's been too long now
Since I've been to town
Just can't face the truth
I know they'll stop and ask me when's
The last I heard from you.
And I can't say when I'll see you again
But I'll love you till the cows come home
Julie Lee's Stillhouse Road is nothing less than a
revelation. With this album, she has put herself firmly on the
map as a genuine and potent singer-songwriter talent. Skilful
and utterly charming, she demonstrates the unbearable lightness
of singing and writing. May the cows come home soon for Miss
Lee.
www.julielee.org
www.compadrerecords.com
Contact Marianne Ebertowski at ebertowski-at-rockzilla.net
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