Canadian alt-country singer/songwriter
Carolyn Mark has spent most of her career in the commercial shadow of her erstwhile singing partner
Neko Case, but the cognoscenti have long recognized that
Mark is her own artist. Much more of a pure country singer at heart than
Case,
Mark's
Just Married: An Album of Duets shows her roots with good old-fashioned honky tonk ballads like "North Country Fair" (recorded with the
Silver Hearts) and a heartfelt acoustic take on the
Hank Williams standard "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with
Luke Doucet, as well as the Western Swing-inspired swagger of "Sweet Thing" with
Corb Lund and the more contemporary Nashville sound of "It's All Just a Matter (Of Where You Draw the Line)" with
Geoff Berner. But
Mark isn't a hidebound traditionalist: other highlights here include the winsome folk-rock of "The Happy Bluebird Sings" with the Fine Options, and "Go Figure" with Kristen Harrison, the melodramatic indie rock atmospherics of "Claxton's Lament" with Carey Mercer, and the playful rock & roll mashup "Rocket Piano Man," a duet with
Amy Honey which giddily conflates
Billy Joel,
Elton John,
David Bowie's "Space Oddity," and other FM mainstays into a tongue in cheek celebration of outer space kitsch. Even more varied and wide-ranging than
Mark's solo records,
Just Married: An Album of Duets is one of her stronger efforts. ~ Stewart Mason