------Good
songs keep. If they're made right they’ll see your kids grow and
mourn the passing of old friends.
------The
ten songs on DAKOTA AVENUE have done both without leaving a shoebox
under Sherry Rich's bed.
------After
ten years, it's time they met the big old world they were made for.
------"DAKOTA
AVENUE is the place in Nashville where I lived and where all these songs
were written," she says. "
------The
album was recorded with Jay Bennett in Wilco's loft in Chicago between
1999 and 2001."
------The
tapes have been dormant so long because other projects have consumed
her time — not least
------The
Rich Family Album of classic country songs with her mother, '60s performer
Noelene Rich,
------brother
Rusty and husband Rick; three albums with her acclaimed kids' band,
the Mudcakes,
------and
writing with Ashley Naylor for a long-awaited second Grapes record.
------"These
songs were written in a very productive period when I first moved to
the US in 1998,
------so
they've been ready to go for awhile," Sherry says. "It took
Jay's untimely death last year
------to
put a fire under it… under me. Sadly he never got the chance to
hear the project finished."
------There's
plenty to admire in the detail of DAKOTA AVENUE, beginning with the
singing pedal steel
------of
the great Al Perkins (of Flying Burritos fame), through the power pop
dazzle of Pandora Mink
------to
the wafting blue chiffon daydream of Same Old Paradise.
------But
these songs aren't the swishy kind that sink or swim in Shane O'Mara's
glistening mix.
------As
a writer, Sherry Rich has a way with mood and setting and longing that
recalls
------the
young Bob Dylan's famous intent "to stay a part of that stuff that
don't change."
------Hotel
Song is great example: a song about the small things that harbour big
feelings,
------set
in some room on some highway that jogs a similar bittersweet memory
in any traveller
------who
can picture it’s peeling wallpaper.
------Hopeful
Heart is another: not a recipe for a contented life, but a question
on behalf of every
------poor
deluded soul who ever imagined they could see it coming in the beautiful
haze "between
------happy
hour and closing time."
------
The sucker punch, of course, is Sherry's voice, a low and easy drawl
that weaves like a slow
------dancing
partner with an alluring habit of falling off a key note like cigarette
smoke off a painted lip.
------The
songs on DAKOTA AVENUE are co-writes with some of Nashville's finest:
Tim Carroll, Will Kimbrough,
------Pat
Buchanan and Bob DiPiero are all country and/or rock journeymen with
their own roads and stories
------momentarily
intersecting with Sherry's long trail from Bribie Island to Melbourne
to the USA and back.
------The
band is no less stellar: Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone and Leroy Bach have
all done time in Wilco
------at
some point. Mr Sherry Rich, Rick Plant, is a constant companion on a
range of instruments.
------Another
page would be required to fully describe the privilege of having the
legendary steel and dobro player
------Al
Perkins on board.
------But
as producer and co-writer of the lion's share of songs, it's Jay Bennett's
spirit that looms largest
------over
DAKOTA AVENUE. "I see this record as a time capsule of my early
days in Nashville and also a
------tribute
to Jay and his incredible musicality" says Sherry. "He was
at his creative best during these recordings
------and
put in many hours of tireless dedication. He and the other musicians
all freely gave their time and sublime
------talents
to make it happen."
------If
you need to ask why they would do that, you may be unaware of Sherry's
extraordinary past,
------from
the all-girl garage-pop sensation Girl Monstar in the late '80s to all-star
roots-rock bands
------The
Grievous Angels and Courtesy Move via her timeless collaboration with
Ashley Naylor, The Grapes.
------And
if that's the case, now's a good time to track some of those albums
down. Or you could leave it another ten years.
------Hers
are the kind of songs that keep.
------Michael
Dwyer
------Melbourne,
------April
2011
------Release
date: 2012
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