Heartbreaking Beauty
Deborah Morse-Kahn | Minneapolis, MN USA | 10/20/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Rogers comes into his own on this album, becoming the storyteller of great promise that showed in his earlier work. Most of the cuts are his own composition and bring power and heart to both words and music. The opening pieces "Through the Cracks" and "Last of the Working Stetsons" are as relevant today in a time of corporate dismantling as they were in the years when the North American farm economy was falling apart: they speak about leaving home when all seems hopeless, and going home again to where we know we belong. Rogers does include a few pieces not his own: in particular, Ewan McColl's wonderful "Joy of Living" is a narrative departure from his own signature style but works very well here. But he ends the album with two of his own compositions: "Election Night: N.D." is powerful but it is "Row of Small Trees" that will tear your heart out and takes Rogers into the company of a few of our very best singer-songwriters of this generation. Listen and feel your heart in your throat, without shame. Then listen again.
"