Sunbird (label)
21 March 2011 (released)
11 March 2011
I think that this is Kimmie Rhodes 15th solo album and in common with all the rest she has written and sung some beautiful and brilliantly crafted songs, filled with soul and emotion and simply enveloping you in the warmth and beauty of her voice.
I simply do not understand why Kimmie Rhodes is still playing venues like the Green Note and The Slaughtered Lamb (although I relish the closeness and the atmosphere in both places) because her talent both as a songwriter and as a singer is right up alongside Emmylou Harris or even Willie Nelson and this set of 11 songs simply reiterates that fact.
From the opening track her voice is breathy and honey-sweet and the backing music there to give her voice the space to soar and all through the album her Texan accent gives a warm and plummy tone to her vocals. The accompanying music is played subtly and by using talents such as Charlie Sexton on bass and Mike Thompson on keyboards producer Gabriel Rhodes has the perfect platform to deliver the album.
The only cover is Donovan’s ‘Catch The Wind’ and I really cannot remember the last time I heard it sung as plaintively or with such sensitivity – her duet with Joe Ely is spot on and it really does leave you with a lump in your throat.
Standout track, for me, is 'Unholy Ghost' - moody and slightly off-kilter, a poem set to music and captures all the things about her that make her special.
Anyone with a taste for country music of wistful grace and beauty must have discovered Kimmie Rhodes by now through her writing for the likes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler but it really is time that her talents as a singer were recognized to the same extent and hopefully this album might do it – peerless.
