Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
(Acony)
Time (The Revelator) is a little patch of sunshine
sent to you straight from the country. The entire
album is simply acoustic guitars and banjos
accompanying Gillian while she sings soft ballads,
rousing choruses, and songs so soothing they could be
lullabies. There is a casual mood about the album that
fits it well. I don't think Gillian is striving for
perfection with the recording; she is capturing the
songs the way they happened, and it makes them even
more endearing.
Gillian Welch's voice is mellow and smooth and has a
country twang that can be subdued or released in full
fury. The harmonies Gillian makes with David Rawlings
is one of my favorite parts of the album, and Gillian
and David don't need anything more to accompany their voices
besides their guitars and banjo, which are played
skillfully and intricately.
Most of the songs on Time tell some sort of story,
just like old country ballads do. Gillian's stories
are often about everyday things, and she tells them
very well. In "Red Clay Halo," which sounds more
bluegrass than the other songs, Gillian, is
accompanied by Rawlins, guitar, and banjo. She tells a
story about a boy who is always dirty and how the girls
won't dance with him. But one day he's going to heaven,
and he's gonna get a red clay halo. And in "Elvis
Presley Blues," Gillian sings her thoughts about Elvis
and tells the story of the first time he went on TV:
"Just a country boy/he combed his hair/put on a shirt
his mother made and he went on the air/and he shook it
like a chorus girl/... he shook it like a
hurricane/he shook it like to make it break/he shook
it like a holy roller, baby, with his soul at stake."
Delicate picked guitars play off each other, and it's
a beautiful song about Elvis, which is something I
don't hear often.
Some songs are slow and drawn out, such as "I Dream A
Highway," which is almost fifteen minutes long and is
one of the songs that remind me of a lullaby. For
being so lengthy, there is not much variation in the
melody and chorus. The guitars sort of hover in the
background. The focus is on the lyrics, which are
lovely, but I wonder if everyone would have enough
patience to last all the way through. This is similar
to "April the 14th" and "Ruination Day Part 2," in
which the lyrics seem to be the backbone of the song,
and unless you are concentrating really hard on them
or the music is just in the background, the songs can
become a little dry.
Time (The Revelator) is full of stories and moods that
Gillian Welch has created with simple, old-fashioned
instruments--guitar, banjo, and voices. But this
simplicity is refreshing, as is the sincerity and
timelessness of the songs.
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