Lissie – Why You Runnin’ (Fat Possum)
For some reason I fished out Beth Rowley’s 2008 album Little Dreamer earlier. I didn’t like it much when it came out, consigning it to the pile of what fellow folkingcoolite Stephen Taylor calls Hootenanny (that is, music especially written for appearance on Jools Holland). But I put it on anyway cos I was in the mood for That Sort Of Thing.
I listened to it for a short while and, unable to really focus properly, my eyes wandered to the To Review pile where Lissie’s EP Why You Runnin’ was lying. Her face had been haunting me for a week or so. It’s one of those album covers where you’re convinced you’ll love the contents so you’re too scared to listen to it in case you don’t. Like the devastatingly good-looking and interesting man on the train who suddenly whips out Jeremy Clarkson’s autobiography.
Well, I did it. Rowley’s cut-glass gospel-by-numbers tipped me over the edge and Lissie went on.
The reason I’m telling you this is that the two aren’t completely dissimilar.
Except they are. Whereas Beth Rowley is of the Duffy/Jamie Cullum school of old-time-songs with a music college twist, Lissie is the real deal. THIS is what I wanted when I bought the Rowley album.
Lissie (whose full name is Lissie Maurus) was born and raised in Rock Island IL, a small blue-collar town on the banks of the Mississippi River most famously known for inspiring Jack Kerouac and being sung about by Johnny Cash. Her grandfather was a barbership champion and as soon she left home (for California, natch) she gathered an entourage of boho types around her and developed her own style of gospel-inspired country.
And, oh my, Why You Runnin’ is a gorgeous – and I mean GORGEOUS – five-track collection. The songs range from the bombastic and trailer-trash of Little Lovin’ (she loves an apostrophe – not so keen on the question mark) to the plaintive longing of Wedding Bells (“wedding bells will never ring for me”) (gulp) and the super-trad and super Oh Mississipi. . The final track,Here Before, is proper grown-up singer-songwritery stuff and not really my cup of tea but the rest of the disc is so lush I’ll let it slide.
If I needed a disc to accompany my new-found obsession with Raymond Carver, I’ve got it. I cannot WAIT for the album (due out in March 2010 – HURRY UP). That’s all.
Hazel Davis
