I wrote last time about working to figure out what this site was going to be as I was putting it together. Thanks to a good conversation about the site with my wife, I think I have a clearer vision of what it really is I want it to be. It isn’t a hard and fast destination, but it is a direction, and that’s just what I was looking for.
One thing I am finding is that to put together a story of any length, it takes a bit of time to write, read, edit, rewrite, etc…so in between those larger and more detailed stories I am writing, I plan on putting out some smaller posts about random things. They will still fit within my overall vision of the site, but I’m not gonna fret over them as much. They aren’t throw-aways. They are more likely things that are occupying my brain that I need to get out of there or are time-sensitive in some way. This post is a little of both.
The Perfect End of Summer Album
There is no shortage right now of extremely talented singers/songwriters/bands that claim Kentucky as their home. Most of us are very familiar with Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, and Chris Stapleton, as they have all exploded in popularity and visibility over the past few years. There are plenty of others, however, and in a variety of music types outside of country or americana. One of my current favorites is a band out of Louisville called Bendigo Fletcher.
I first heard them when Spotify made a suggestion a few years ago based on the music I was listening to at the time. A song called “Sleeping Pad” turned up in the suggested songs rotation that I really liked, and after looking a little further to find out some information about them, I saw that they were a Kentucky band. So, that song went in to my playlist rotation, and unfortunately, I sort of forgot to check back in on them to see what they’d been up to until about a month or so ago, and I’m really glad that I did.
They released a new album in August (“Fits of Laughter“, which is EXCELLENT and deserves its own post), but after listening to that one for a bit, I thought I’d take a peek back to see if they’d been up to anything else since I’d last checked on them, and they had been QUITE busy. They had released several albums in addition to the latest one.
I’m not exactly sure how to describe them, and I’m certain they won’t be to everyone’s (or possibly ANYONE’S) liking who reads this and decides to give them a listen, but my hope is that at least a few of you will take a listen, make a connection, and maybe enjoy them as much as I do.
They aren’t hard…but they aren’t soft. They aren’t country, but they aren’t exactly rock, either. The style of songs changes from one song to another, particularly on their latest album. The songs have an “airy” quality about them, but they aren’t really “trippy”. One of the things I love is that they very creatively incorporate a lot of sounds and instruments that are traditional to music in Kentucky. You’ll hear banjoes and fiddles, but it definitely isn’t bluegrass. And sprinkled through the lyrics are little nods to words and phrases folks around here will recognize. There are also quite a few harmonies that would make the Everly Brothers proud.
As I started exploring what all they had released since “Sleeping Pad” and the new album, I sort of locked in on “Memory Fever”, released in 2019. As it played, I took in the songs…the lyrics…the melodies…the mood. The mood. The album seemed to have a mood…a feeling. It felt like…now. It felt like the end of summer.
It tickles me to death when an album has a feeling…a “flow” or a connectedness that carries from the first song to the last. In particular, it is one of the things that takes listening to an album on vinyl to another level. I have noticed over the past several years that creating albums which have an underlying theme seems to be something that has made somewhat of a “comeback”.
Now I don’t mean they have to be pure “concept” albums, like The Wall. Those are no so common. But, you can tell as you are listening that an album if it is more than just a collection of random songs thrown together. There is just a feeling you get as you listen…that it is a work that is meant to be enjoyed as a whole, and it is wonderful to experience.
“Memory Fever” feels like that kind of album to me. From the very first line of the very first song …“The wheels on the summer, are coming, to a slow, slow roll”…the whole album just “reminds” me of that feeling of reflection that often accompanies the transition from summer into fall. It reminds me of right now.
It doesn’t beat you over the head with the concept. It isn’t a collection of songs about jumping in to a big pile of leaves. But, for me at least, the feeling was there, lurking just under the surface of the album as a whole…transition…memories made with friends…forgotten gardens…even a recollection of the solar eclipse from August 2017.
Interestingly, there are two songs that absolutely seem to “go together”, but those two songs are probably as much removed from the overall “theme” as anything on the album. Still, they convey a mood that feels at home within the overall framework. “Between Supper and Dinner” transitions seamlessly into “AMF”, both musically and thematically, almost to the point where the two feel like one longer song, And that collective song has been occupying space in my brain from the moment I first heard it.
So maybe check it out (and DEFINITELY check out their new album, as well).
Some of you may like it…others may not…and who knows if anyone else will agree that it is the perfect end of summer album. But that is the great thing about music. We don’t all have to agree on what we like or what we don’t like. There are places where our musical tastes will overlap, and there are others where they probably couldn’t be farther apart, but that’s OK.
Just listen.