GILLIAN WELCH - THE HARROW AND THE HARVEST

Gillian Welch recently released her first album in eight years, The Harrow & The Harvest. Or, I should say their last album. Even though Gillian's name is on the cover, it's Gillian and long-time partner and collaborator David Rawlings pictured on the cover, and they are the only two musicians on the album. This is Gillian's first album in eight years, although the two of them released an album under the name The David Rawlings Machine two years ago. All this background just makes the point that these two make an incredible team.

Even if you're not familiar with their music, when you hear them sing and play together, they sound so seamless, it's almost as if they have one voice.  No one else sounds quite like them.

The new album reminds me of their early stuff like Revival and Time (The Revelator). Very old-timey, very ominous.  Dark.  I remember when I first heard Gillian/David's music, I didn't know who wrote their songs, and I kind of thought they were doing old "traditional" songs. Nope, they write their songs, it's just that they sound that timeless.  That's how it is on this album also.

I like this album a lot, and I'm not the only one.  One of my favorite music writers, Syvie Simmons of Mojo Magazine gave the album a 5 stars "instant classic" review.  It's not an album that will get a lot of hype, but it's definitely rewarding (and hopefully will land in lots of critics "top albums" lists at the end of the year).