Caroline Spence – Mint Condition
Rounder – 10 May 2019
Following in the footsteps of Courtney Marie Andrews, after two self-released albums the Nashville-based Americana singer-songwriter Caroline Spence has deservedly been signed to a major independent label. Like Andrews, it’s taken five years, and a considerable degree of slog, putting in the miles with constant touring, both in America and beyond, a dues-paying journey recounted in Long Haul, a hook-laden upbeat number driven by Jason Burger’s steady drum beat and jangly guitars. She sings about “those highway stripes leading the way/ Down that fine line between making a living and digging your grave”, interpolated with the infectious chorus of “What else am I gonna do tonight/I’ve crossed my t’s, I’ve dotted my i’s/When I sold my soul to the 1-4-5/Never was looking for the glamour.”
Produced by Dan Knobler, who contributes assorted guitars, it opens with the driving drums and electric guitars of the poppy What You Don’t Know, a song about finding love. It proceeds into an early album highlight with Angels or Los Angeles. It’s a simple strummed road song about “getting the hell out in a Dodge” featuring Erin Rae on harmonies and Kris Donegan on slide. The references in the lyrics to a roadside church and the message that “kindness is its own reward” stemming from a personal trip she took across the desert.
The narrative is revisited from a different angle on the subsequent twanged and jangly Song About A City, the album’s sole co-write, with Ashley Ray. Out on the road to Joshua Tree, she sings “I took two steps in Austin, one back in Boston, trying to learn something new/I found lonesome highways, brand new skyline but nothing could change my tune/Wish I could write a song about a city instead of songs about you.”
The pace slows for the ethereal opening to the slow waltzing reflective Sometimes A Woman’s An Island as, to oohing backing vocals and yearning guitar notes she talks about how “Sometimes a woman stands alone/ ‘Cause they’ll turn her joy into sorrow / And she knows her grief is her own.”
Another song about trying to find love but also accepting life as it is at that moment, things kick back up with the Pettyesque mid-tempo cascading chords of the organ-backed Who’s Gonna Make My Mistakes. It sports the great line “Talking to this man is like looking at an ashtray/Something was there but there ain’t much left”, a number that comes to an abrupt halt as it gives way to the gorgeous slow waltzing Sit Here And Love Me. On the latter, Spence’s whispery tremulous vocals are at their most intimate as she tells her lover to understand and accept her rather than trying to fix things when she’s down.
She pushes her voice further than before – and to emotion-shivering effect – on the slow sway-along Wait On The Wine, essentially a number about finding a little courage to say what you want to say to someone you’ve always had a crush on. It’s back then to self-examination for the brooding, atmospheric desert night feel of Who Are You, the opening wordless vocal evocative of a wolf’s howl, questioning herself (“Have I been betting on the wrong cards my whole life?”) and how she should “lighten up, show myself a little love.”
A simple slow acoustic strum with strings accompaniment courtesy of Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer, Till You Find One returns to the theme of searching for the right relationship, the right connection and how “There is no sign…The only thing you can know/Is that you’ll let them all go /Til you find one you can’t.”
Fittingly that idea of a soulmate finds consummate expression in the closing title track, written about enduring love rather than break-ups and inspired by her grandparents. It’s sung from the perspective of her grandmother after the passing of her husband. With Emmylou Harris providing harmonies and Knobler on organ, Spence sings “I might have to learn/To live here alone/But I love you through ash and through stone.” You might want to listen to this in private with a tissue on hand to wipe away the tears it will have you welling up.
Assured a place in the albums of the year list, this finds Caroline Spence in mint condition indeed.
European Tour Dates
Oct 23 – Newcastle, The Cluny2
Oct 24 – Manchester, Night & Day
Oct 25 – Glasgow, The Glad Café
Oct 27 – Bristol, The Louisiana
Oct 28 – Cambridge, Junction 2
Oct 30 – London, The Borderline
Nov 01 – Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg (Club Nine), NL
Nov 03 – Amsterdam, Paradiso (upstairs), NL
Nov 04 – Berlin, Maze, DE
Nov 06 – Malmo, Folk A Rock, SE
Nov 07 – Stockholm, Byrggarsalen, SE
Nov 11 – Ringebu, Amemoen Gard, NO
Nov 12 – Bergen, Private House Concert, NO
Nov 13 – Tromso, Amtmanders Efft, NO
Nov 15 – Dublin, Workman’s Club, IE
Nov 16 – Galway, Roisin Dubh, IE