The first two songs on
Bearfoot's fourth album pretty much tell you what you need to know: they open with a fine, gently bouncing cover of
Megan McCormick's "Oh My Love," on which they weave silky-tight harmonies around a chord progression that sounds simple but isn't. Then they rip into a great string-band arrangement of the old-time mountain lament "Single Girl," which they deliver with a sharp, vinegary flair and that weird combination of joy and regret that characterizes so much Appalachian music. On the rest of the album, those disparate influences tend to be a bit more blended: there are midtempo romantic numbers like "Time Is No Medicine" that combine a traditional-sounding verse with an almost poppy chorus; there are cover versions of songs by
John Hiatt (the excellent "Before I Go") and
the Beatles ("Don't Let Me Down"), and there are lead singer Odessa Jorgensen's deeply personal songs of heartbreak and loss ("Heaven," "My One True Love"). And at the very end is the album's real treat: a sly, sexy, blues-inflected number called "Good in the Kitchen" that never says anything directly about any other room, but with its saucy rhythm and insinuating melody sure does hint more toward the bedroom. ~ Rick Anderson