CD Details
Synopsis
Amazon.comSuzanne Thomas's voice is remarkable within bluegrass, where for 30 years she's been central to bands like the Dry Branch Fire Squad and the Hotmud Family. She possesses no crystalline soprano or pretty soaring tone nor belting power exactly. Thomas has something else: an ache all around the edges, a tactile sense of emotion, the warmth and tremble marking depth of human feeling. Backing by contemporary bluegrassers IIIrd Tyme Out, the Lonesome River Band, the Seldom Scene, and the Dry Branch Fire Squad never overwhelms Thomas's delivery, which is most moving on the melancholy title track--an ode to Stephen Foster--and Robin and Linda Williams's "Leaving This Land." Her torchy take on "Miss the Mississippi and You" closes Thomas's solo debut, easily one of the year's best bluegrass offerings. --Roy Francis Kasten
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CD Reviews
IN MY TOP TEN OF 1998 02/03/1999 (5 out of 5 stars) "This is a delicate and poetic CD that is often in my rotation. It's one of those CD's that can take repeated listens from start to finish. "Leaving This Land", the title track and "Faded Coat of Blue" are just a few of the songs that force me to stop what I'm doing and sit down to listen until they're finished. Thomas's voice can evoke such a sense of worn-out tiredness, such bittersweet sadness, yet on other songs, such as "Louisiana Man", she'll have you tapping your foot and dancing along with the joyous vocals. It's bluegrass, yes, but it's also folk, country-and wonderfully timeless in it's conveyance of emotion. I must confess to not having tremendous patience with a steady diet of bluegrass music, although I certainly own my share, but this CD rises above whatever label one would put upon it. If Iris Dement, Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss are in your collection, you definitely need this. If they aren't, and you're looking to explore, buy this slice of Americana. You won't be disappointed."
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