Humming' reviews

[johnfoyle]

http://www.aversion.com/bands/reviews.cfm?f_id=2109

Aversion

Humming by the Flowered Vine
Laura Cantrell
Matador Records

(4 stars out of 5)

You know how Nash Vegas is these days. There are big-time producers, big-time A&R men and about a million bucks changing hands every minute. You have midriff-baring starlets like The Dixie Chicks singing to click tracks. To go on stage on a recent tour, Brooks and Dunn launched themselves from a pair of canons. Hundreds of crack songwriters work in back rooms amid overflowing ashtrays and dried-up cups of coffee in a desperate attempt to pen the next Top 10 hit.

It’s no place for a young woman like Laura Cantrell who, raised in Nashville, has an intuitive in-bred love for down-home country. For steel guitars and fiddles, and ones played like our grandparents played them, not like those fancy-schmancy high-priced Nashville studio musicians play. Heck, she might as well be living in Los Angeles for all the hoopla in her hometown, so Cantrell did what any decent, hard-working singer would do: She packed up her bags and moved to a place where people respect real music. Where the plastic tendrils of commercialized music don’t reach. She’d move to where folks could connect with her spirit, her subtle delivery and grassroots traditional bent weren’t trampled in the hustle-bustle of the modern world.

She packed up her guitar and moved to New York.

Moving to the Big Apple from Music City may seem like an ass-backward way to pursue a career in traditional country. The fact that Cantrell pulls it off, and does it well enough to make Humming by the Flowered Vine, her Matador debut, should be a clue as to how far removed she is from the likes of Toby Keith, Brooks and Dunn and all those other jingoist, truck-driving yahoos who hijacked country music away from good, honest folk for the sake of the recording industry.

Before Cantrell recorded Humming by the Flowered Vine, she’d already been welcomed into Nashville’s holiest of holies, the Grand Ole Opry, but that doesn’t mean she caters to modern country-pop tastes on this album. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Cantrell sticks to her guns with traditional country that puts its faith in salt-of-the-earth acoustic strumming and sturdy back-porch rhythms. Electric and steel guitars, banjo and fiddle breeze in now and then, but they’re not around to steal the show or even add a dose of pepper to the mix. Like all classic country, everything hangs on Cantrell’s vocal performance and she’s more than up to snuff on this one. Juggling a mix of covers and originals, Cantrell croons with a voice as evocative as Pasty Cline or Loretta Lynn, pulling listeners through a no-frills return to Golden Age country. In the ballday “Khaki and Corduroy,” she sings the tale of country girl in the big city, and her haunting alto’s strong enough to keep the album from train-wrecking in the land of horrible clichés. Cantrell gives Jennifer Jackson’s “What You Said” a hay-dance makeover, as scooting rhythms, fiddle and steel guitar step in to add some Nashville flavor to the tune. Covers of Wynn Stewart’s “Wishful Thinking” and the traditional “Poor Ellen Smith” similarly take up classic honky-tonk overtones. “Letters” and “And Still” have just enough electric guitar and slick production that it may win over a Ryan Adams fan or two, while most of the album’s heartfelt enough to sit alongside the country music your grandparents grew up listening to.

Despite the traditional bent that guides Humming by the Flowered Vine, Cantrell sounds anything but stodgy and old. Attacking her songs with a passion and sincerity that can’t be faked, Cantrell shows the folks down in Nashville a thing or two about making great country music.

- Matt Schild
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The Irish Times

June 10 '05

This third album by Cantrell, Wall Street analyst turned country chanteuse, kicks off inauspiciously with 14th Street, an irritatingly glib girl-fancies-boy slice of slight pop. But fears are unfounded as she, producer JD Foster and an accomplished cast wrestle themselves back into contention with a quirky collection of thoughtful songs that range from honky tonk to traditional folk, all with a cool tinge as befits a record dedicated to the memory of John Peel. Cantrell’s voice has matured since her debut (Not the Tremblin’ Kind), but could still be more expressive. She contributes four songs, the best of which are the softly intriguing Khaki & Corduroy and Bees. But this collection is more a testament to her tasteful singing, her eclectic taste in songs and her broad knowledge of musical roots.
Joe Breen

[Paulw]

Can't see what the problem is with 14th Street.

[johnfoyle]

The Word , July '05

LAURA CANTRELL
Humming By The Flowered Vine:

well bred country from the canyons of Manhattan

By Nick Stewart

The intriguing thing about Cantrell, given her straightforward country approach to singing and arrangements, is her wide appeal. She counts the Grand Ole Opry, the Newport Folk Festival and World Café stages as her audience. Her tastes are catholic, and this third album again reflects her shrewdness in song selection and supporting players. Opener 14th Street is a breezy paean to the dividing line between uptown and downtown New York, written by Emily Spray, from Oregon — a long time Cantrell buddy. Then she unearths What You Said by native New Yorker Jennifer Jackson. Her third track is Dave Schramm’s And Still, where she is joined by Calexico. Three entirely different styles of songwriting all knitted together by her hauntingly lovely voice.

This album has a sense of history about it too, a meditation on sights and sounds recalled and remembered. Her own songs bring to life again honky took era singer Rose Maddox, Wynn Stewart, a Bakersfield country legend and Nashville heroes, William Polk and Alvin C York. Whether Laura is singing a traditional tune such as Poor Ellen Smith or revisiting an early Lucinda Williams unreleased demo, Letters, her fresh yet fragile vocals send shivers down the spine.

[Paulw]

http://www.stompandstammer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=127&Itemid=51

[johnfoyle]

The Hot Press ( Dublin) , 29 June '05

LAURA CANTRELL
HUMMING BY THE FLOWERED VINE
(MATADOR)


LUCINDA WILLIAMS
LIVE AT THE FILLMORE (LOST HARAWAY)


Laura Cantrell — investment banker by day, respected alt-country DJ by. night — gained a dizzying reputation with her two previous albums. A degree in economics and, by country standards, suspiciously comfortable upbringing (no rags-to-riches back story here) proved little hindrance as she made the Americana a-list. Her debut, Not The Tremblin’ Kind, was judged an instant classic by the alt, country cognoscenti. John Peel declared it his favourite album of the last ten years.

While Humming By The Flowered Vine is perhaps too subtle an outing to garner similar praise, it is nevertheless an immaculate collection of classy torch songs and crystal-clear heart-tuggers. Everything about the album is pristine, from the distinctive pedal-steel contributions from Lambchop’s Paul Niehaus to the choice of material (including a haunting cover of Lucinda Williams’ ‘Letters’) and the cut-glass power of Cantrell’s voice.

Regarded in isolation, Cantrell’s record is graceful, personable and intermittently lovely (lonely drunks will sway to ‘Khaki And Corduroy’). However, position it alongside Lucinda Williams’ sprawling, slurring, magnificently in-your-face Live At The Fillmore and Humming starts to sink back into the wallpaper.

Williams now has in her locker four albums that any of her Creative forbearers (Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jimmy Miller-era Stones) would be proud to call their own. That she doesn’t enjoy a similar level of acclaim has perhaps more to do with her famously fierce independent streak and reluctance to tour, than any flaw in her art.

For the uninitiated, this breathless live album, recorded over three nights in San Francisco serves as a perfect introduction. The project is by turns licentious (‘Righteously’), defiant (‘Changed The Locks’) and, always, heart-stoppingly gorgeous (‘Reason To Cry’, ‘Blue’). Williams is one of the few performers wha reminds you of Patsy Cline on one track and Tom Waits on the next.

Judging by the two CDs here, her Fillmore shows were a master-class in literary songwriting and impassioned delivery. You can imagine Cantrell huddled at the back, scribbling notes.

Humming By The Flowered Vine:
SEVEN/TEN

Live @ The Fillmore:
NINE/POINT FIVE/TEN

COLIN CARBERRY

[johnfoyle]

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=664132005

The Scotsman

COUNTRY

LAURA CANTRELL: HUMMING BY THE FLOWERED VINE ****
MATADOR, £12.99

THE luminous Laura Cantrell is one of the most engaging young country singers of her generation, keenly aware of her musical roots (she was born and raised in Nashville) and with an ear for a lilting melody which has endeared her greatly to Scottish audiences. Her third album Humming by the Flowered Vine, which draws together a tasteful mix of covers and originals, reconciles her love for her adopted home of New York with her attachment to the old country, but it doesn't quite have the songwriting clout of its predecessor When the Roses Bloom Again.

Cantrell is a very fragrant, fragile singer and cannot quite convey the stridency of Dave Schramm's And Still or the melodrama of murder ballad Poor Ellen Smith. Instead, she is more suited to a song sung blue such as piano elegy Bees or the tender nostalgia of Khaki & Corduroy.

FIONA SHEPHERD
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,1507924,00.html

The Guardian

Laura Cantrell, Humming by the Flowered Vine
2 stars (Matador)

Adam Sweeting
Friday June 17, 2005

Guardian

Laura Cantrell was raised in Nashville but transplanted herself to New York to attend college. Consequently her music reflects this country-girl-in-the-city dichotomy, nowhere more explicitly than in Khaki & Corduroy, where her thoughts drift back to her arrival in New York in the mid-1980s. The song's mood of faintly twee nostalgia is typical of the whole album, which brings together a selection of Cantrell originals alongside covers of vintage and contemporary material.

There's a not-terribly-distinguished piece by Lucinda Williams (Letters) and an especially unconvincing item called And Still, where Cantrell's voice wobbles unpleasantly. She fares better with the sprightly Bakersfield swing of Wishful Thinking, with its rollicking fiddle and pedal-steel, and the murder ballad Poor Ellen Smith, which whips up an aroma of old-time mountain music. But overall the mixture never quite gels, and the rasping timbre of Cantrell's voice ain't the prettiest sound you ever heard.

[Paulw]

Fragrant? That's an interesting adjective. The Guardian review is disappointing, but I suppose some people just don't get it.

The Daily Mail also has a 4 star review, which is generally favourable, but they still have Laura as working in Wall Street, which is a cliche that is well out of date.

Be interesting to see if the album makes the top 75. I doubt it, but I may be pleasantly surprised - it all depends on how the record shops promote it.

[johnfoyle]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/reviews/story/0,13875,1507197,00.html

The Observer( London)

Laura Cantrell, Humming By the Flowered Vine
3 stars
Sarah Boden:

Country singer shuns the formula beloved of her peers

Sunday June 19, 2005


Laura Cantrell has a rare talent. In a genre that's too often constrained by formula, she brings an intriguingly understated approach. Her alluringly graceful voice means that her third album sits easily in the country tradition.
She imbues seemingly disparate songs with a fresh vitality: the breezily urban '14th Street' - a reflection on the divide between uptown and downtown New York - sits easily alongside the noir Appalachian murder ballad 'Poor Ellen Smith'.

But it is the unswerving simplicity of delivery, which lets you absorb every drop of sorrow and celebration, that makes this album such a delight.
Sarah Boden

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,2-533-1654977,00.html

The Sunday Times ( London)

LAURA CANTRELL
Humming by the Flowered Vine
Matador OLE6512


There’s an angry buzz round Nashville. It’s the sound of country singers furious that at no point in the past 25 years have their managers, producers or A&R executives played them the demo for Letters, a Lucinda Williams song that has lain unrecorded since she wrote it in the late 1970s.


As we already know from her first two albums, Laura Cantrell has an unerring ear for a great tune, and so she gets to unveil this wonderful song about the power of a letter (I told you it was written a while ago). Elsewhere, though, the revelation of Humming is the development in Cantrell’s own songwriting: the timeless California Rose and the wistful Khaki and Corduroy are the equal of her carefully picked and exquisitely interpreted covers.
Three stars

MARK EDWARDS

[johnfoyle]

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/pop/reviews/12073/index.html

New York Metro, June 27, 2005

Pop Music Review

Jukebox

Three critics from different musical perspectives offer competing takes on recent noteworthy albums.

Rating System:
1 = Skip it
5 = Try it
10 = Buy it

( extract)


Laura Cantrell

Humming by the Flowered Vine

The country singer was raised in Nashville, went to Columbia, and worked on Wall Street before turning full-time to music. This is her third album, recorded in Cobble Hill.
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Andre the Music Snob

( Immerses himself in neo-psychedelia and no-wave, and takes ironic pleasure in southern rock. Favorite band of all time: James Chance and the Contortions. )

Laura Cantrell’s first two albums were full of enchanting, dusty country that nodded to the Carter family. But Vine is schizoid—too dense, too blatantly modern to stand with her earlier work. She comes across like a small-town girl rendered dizzy by the sheer bigness of the city.

Rating: 4
Best Track: “Bees”
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Madison the A&R Chick

( A pop fanatic since she first heard Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac. Depeche Mode defined her teenage years. Obsessed with finding the next Prince. )

She’s a little bit country, she’s a little bit light rock and roll, and I’m a lot confused. There is none of the pathos of country greats like Patsy Cline, nor the edge of her alt-country contemporaries. Although there are beautiful musical moments in “Bees,” it never quite crosses over into pop either. The songs are not to blame; it’s that the hooks are minimized by a lack of conviction in the vocals. Laura sings beautifully, but without distinction.

Rating: 5
Best Track: “Bees”
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Howie the Sleepless New Dad

( In college, he listened to nothing but rap. Now his taste tilts toward gentle folk-rock that won’t drive his wife from the room. Hates Maroon 5 with a passion. )

I have found that my 10-week-old daughter likes it when I sing pretty songs to her. She will probably grow out of it. However, that basic desire is what I think of when I listen to Laura Cantrell. Her songs have beautiful melodies, they tell stories, and you can really sit there and listen to them, not just have it on in the background. Although it works nicely that way, too.

Rating: 9
Best Track: “Bees”

[johnfoyle]

http://www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviews.html#cantrell

Net Rhythms ( U.K.) , June 2005

Only at the third album stage, Laura Cantrell is oozing the kind of transcendent quality she could only possibly have achieved as the fruit of an utter immersion in the whole expanse of her homeland genre.

Having emigrated to New York from her native Nashville at the age of seventeen to study American literature at Columbia University, Cantrell has emerged in a relatively short space of time from her pastime as a free-form radio DJ and consummate musical historian and job at the equity research department of Bank of America as an alluring hybrid of her new city's style and sophistication and the classic Nashville sentimentality, seemingly ready in all ways to back up what on the back of the scope and maturity of this album will be inevitable comparisons with an artist Cantrell shares more than one similarity with - Lucinda Williams.

Walking into my house a few days ago I had the strange and 100% genuine experience of hearing this album, which was being played by my brother, and veering into a brief but genuine daze where the two artists merged into one, coming out vaguely wondering from where Williams had got her new sound. It is apposite that Cantrell has covered an unreleased Williams song for a track here, providing a perfect chance to later on contrast the two artists, which I will no doubt take up.

Following on from her debut Not the Tremblin' Kind in 2000, famously hailed by John Peel as possibly his favourite album of all time, and 2002's similarly acclaimed When the Roses Bloom Again, Humming by the Flowered Vine comes in the now familiar country format of adaptations, country standards and tracks of her own to follow on from the resounding success of her originals on the previous albums, but immediately in Emily Spray's gorgeous opener, 14th Street, we find Cantrell, like all true adepts, effortlessly moving to a sound of considerably greater, though no less sensitive, musical and melodic scope. A shimmering paean to New York wonder on the uptown/downtown divide, 14th Street is a scenic maze of twisting and wistful melody, Cantrell in her element eloquently conveying a girlish wonder while the backing vocals of Mary Lee Kortes create a satisfying and elegant counterpoint. Cantrell seems to have the handy habit of starting albums with such nuggets and Spray’s paean here gives us a delightful taste of what’s to come.

Jenifer Jackson's What You Said starts with a superb whirl of Rob Burger's accordion, soon joined by Kenny Kosek's inspired fiddle in creating a perfect summer feel in which the instrumentals seem to blend vintage and take on a life of their own. Cantrell's interpretation of these "lighter" musical sojourns has been a staple of her charm from the start, and under her guidance, maybe in consequence of the unobtrusive, effortless emotion of her voice, the music seems utterly exposed, and the expression is of a wealth of substance and beauty. Wishful Thinking, Wynn Stewart's blissful fifties shuffle, is in a similarly thrilling vain, Cantrell affectionately expressing her historian’ s fondness for "Californian Country" of the time with a precision execution that has the song absolutely regaling in splendour.

Of her own all-important originals on Flowered Vine, California Rose follows on in the tradition of past efforts like Queen of the Coast and Mountain Fern in being stylistically and emotionally sparkling tributes to forgotten country heroes, Cantrell coating her acute narrative in a traditional and humble country form. Rose Maddox (Maddox Brothers and Rose) is the subject of California Rose, her sad story caught affectionately and equally poignantly in an upbeat whirl of succinct strings, guitar and pedal steel. Of four originals on Flowered Vine though, the Maddox tribute is the only one representative of Cantrell as a burgeoning and charmingly tentative storyteller.

A progression in melodic complexity and bolder in its sense of venture, Khaki and Corduroy is Cantrell's most ambitious effort yet, and is pulled off again with a sense of effortless ease that gives the listener no room to doubt her at all. Atmospherically evoking personal memories of arrival in a new town and impressions of youthful relationships, it is also Cantrell’s first step away from the more traditional country instrumentals, with Mark Spencer's emotional piano playing creating a sultry night time feel, and Rob Burger's claviola adding to what is an intricate poignancy. Khaki and Corduroy is a particular progressive high point on Flowered Vine and gives the impression Cantrell has been around writing since the advent of the Carter Family. The deeper emotional edge is carried into track nine, a tribute to an old friend of Cantrell' at the end of his time, this time Ted Riechman’s piano and Burger's Hammond B3 providing the haunting and poignant form to Cantrell’s saddest song yet. The last track, Old Downtown, is similarly innovative in its broad and rolling, again deeply atmospheric evocation of a place shaped by its turbulent and tragic history. That Cantrell emerges out of this album as an undoubted and original "successor" to the likes of Williams cannot be doubted in the light of these vintage efforts.

So to the Williams comparisons. It is interesting in Letters, a classic, rolling Lucinda epic which for some reason has never been released, from an artistic point of view to see Cantrell paint the song in completely different colours to what one imagines would Williams. More serene, if you like quaint and picturesque, but no less bubbling with a similar emotion seemingly conveyed in a classical black and white. In Letters, Cantrell's understated voice comes into its own to create a new, crackling emotional austerity that fills out the classic Williams chorus with a new kind of poignancy. It is maybe Cantrell's intrinsic charm that she plays outwardly like you’d imagine Lucinda Williams to play at home, and in comparison the energies contrast perfectly.

The last song to remark upon, the traditional Poor Ellen Smith, a truly American murder ballad, is an elegant march through stylistic country history rendered brilliant by the affectionate hand of Cantrell, who arranges as part of the ongoing "folk process", bypassing one out of ten verses in the book. Be it in her own songs or those of the past, in the hands of Cantrell every sinew of her genre seems to be writhing with life, its true magic evoked in a sensual way no history lesson could ever manage. Cantrell opens country music up like a flower, and Humming by the Flowered Vine is a work of formidable and pristine beauty emanating all of its flavour.

Neil Jones

[johnfoyle]

http://www.splendidmagazine.com/review.html?reviewid=11174685381293191splendid > reviews > 6/16/2005

Splendid Magazine


Laura Cantrell
Humming By The Flowering Vine
Matador



With its lattice of picked guitar notes running up the major and minor chords, the swish of brushes on snare and the plunk of stand-up bass, "Khaki & Corduroy"'s introduction suggests that the song could be any kind of music -- jazz, folk, pop or country. Cantrell's voice, when it comes, is nearly translucent, landing lightly on the notes, breathing them out like soap bubbles so that they hang, iridescent, in the air. There may be a slight hitch, a slide, a country intonation in her voice, yet mostly it is as pure, lovely and untethered to genre as a voice can be. The song drifts sweetly by, as simple and evocative as a breeze in the curtains -- not a note, not a tone, not a word too much or too little. It's the kind of song that at first seems inconsequential, a passing thing, a dream, but then you start to hear it in your head and realize it has left a mark on you.

Like "Khaki & Corduroy," Humming By the Flowering Vine casts a quiet spell, ruminating on pop, traditional country, folk and jazz urbanity without ever settling into a box. It is the third album from Cantrell, a WFMU country-music DJ, Nashville native and New York resident, perhaps the only bank executive who has ever toured with Elvis Costello or recorded with John Peel. Here she offers five originals (if you count one traditional tune she's adapted) and five covers. Her choice of covers is as eccentric and interesting as you'd expect from a free-form DJ, including cuts from well-known artists like Lucinda Williams and Dave Schramm, emerging songwriters Emily Spray and Jenifer Jackson and honky-tonk hero Wynn Stewart. Emily Spray's "14th Street", the album's first single, is particularly affecting, with its mix of city girl pop sophistication and simple heartfelt singing. The song is about a chance sighting of a love interest -- whether it's a crush or a former beau is unclear, but the interest is clearly unrequited. Though only slightly over three minutes long, the cut has the symmetry and dramatic arc of a good short story. The woman follows behind, imagining an encounter: "I see you on the street / you kiss my cheek / my knees go weak / it's clear you have nothing to lose / while I'm losing sleep." While the lyrics are bittersweet, the melody soars euphorically -- even unreturned love is a giddy thing.

"And Still", the cut from ex-Yo La Tengo (and current Schramms) guitarist Dave Schramm, is also excellent, building layers of electric and steel guitar, brushed percussion and tightly harmonized voices. The song moves effortlessly from sparse melancholia to full-out rock triumph in the climactic "I hear voices" chorus, drawing not just on Cantrell and Schramm but members of Calexico and Ollabelle, too.

Cantrell clearly has an affinity with the forgotten heroes of country, bluegrass and blues, and she acknowledges them in songs like her own "California Rose", a tribute to Rose Maddox of the Maddox Brothers, and "Wishful Thinking" a fiddle-laced Wynn Stewart cover. Her musicological bent is, apparently, a family trait, as her great, great, grandfather's sister was Ethel Park Richardson, a well-known songcatcher who travelled the Smoky Mountains in search of traditional music. Her cover of murder ballad "Poor Ellen Smith" comes from one of Richardson's collections, rearranged and adapted by Cantrell herself.

Every song on Humming By the Flowering Vine has an interesting story, or at least a personal connection, behind it, and Cantrell's excellent song-by-song liner notes are a joy to read. Still, you can listen just as happily without knowing where the songs came from or why Cantrell chose them. This is a wonderful album, full of heart, skill and intelligence, and sure to be recognized as a classic.



-- Jennifer Kelly

[johnfoyle]

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3127

Stylus


Laura Cantrell
Humming By The Flowered Vine
Matador
2005
A-




Portents—bit worrying. “Collaborating with Calexico.” Not that there’s anything wrong with Calexico per se, but there’s always seemed to be something about Laura that you sense lashings of mariachi trumpets and fiddles wouldn’t exactly enhance. She’s never been fragile or timid, twee or pretentious, but her two previous albums had such clarity of sound and vision that throwing in added instrumentation seems a bit pointless, if not downright rude. Her voice was so expressive because of its incredible calm and internal fortitude, never needing to do too much or to over-elaborate.

Humming By The Flowered Vine, then, is a step out into the wider world. Not quite “Hey, she’s on the same label as Interpol, make clear the hit parade!”, but a step up from being on tiny Scottish indie label Spit & Polish. By and large, it’s a triumphant move…

After a few listens, that is. Initially, you start worrying that they’ve lost her voice somewhere, like when the guitars on “Letters” start jutting out their jaws that bit too much, or “Khaki & Corduroy,” which sometimes sounds as though they’ve specifically hired a dancefloor in order to make it authentically deserted, and then got someone in to sweep it in a suitably forlorn manner. Sometimes it does sound like The First Ever Country Record On Matador, too tied down to ideas of what country records are supposed to sound like, too desperate to prove itself to the alt-country milieu, too busy looking for its cred to have got round to being any good.

And then Laura looks you in the eyes and you realise that really, you’re being a bit of a twit. She’s still there, the same as she ever was. Her surroundings have just got a bit grander. “Wishful Thinking” is irresistible, a steel-pedalled swinger that twirls and twangs as Laura, with just a wee bit of a smirk on her lips, shrugs “I’ll just live my life in dreams / And long for your love / It’s you I’m wishin’ for / And it’s you I’m thaaan-ken’ of… Please make my wishful thinking come true.” She’s so warm, tender, and playful that saying no hurts too damn bad to even contemplate. Similarly, her version of “Poor Ellen Smith” might seem like a somewhat unnecessary addition, but it gets touched with such good nature that you don’t care—you might not notice if it were gone, but it’s not gone, and it’s quite good too.

She’s still got her flaws, in so far as if there’s a poor lyric she can’t really do too much with it—her voice is perhaps too clean cut and honest to disguise it too well. “Letters,” a previously unrecorded Lucinda Williams song, contains the following:

Wasn’t very funny
I didn’t have much money
There was not much food on the table
Not much food on the table

I was feeling pretty low-oh
Heard a knock at my door
It was Western Union with a cable
Western Union with a cable

And the trouble is that Laura sings it like she is absolutely convinced that it’s a really good lyric. Given that most of her recorded output consists of her doing versions of little-known country songs by other artists, it’s understandable that she often seems in awe of the material, and it almost pains you when she picks out a seeming duffer. This happens twice on the album, with “Letters” and “What You Said,” the album’s second track, which shoots for jaunty and just ends up seeming a bit awkward.

Surprisingly, though, “Letters” eventually reveals itself to be a jewel in the crown. Yes, the lyrics are a touch stilted, the backing’s maybe a touch strident, and Laura’s over-reaching for a high note on the second “Western Yoon-YAHHN” is a bit painful, but after a while you realise that, well, yes, it is nice receiving letters. It’s nice hearing from people. That brief string crescendo doesn’t jar, it tingles. The bit where everything stops and the backing vocals are left to get all “River Deep Mountain High,” a staircase of “Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh / Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh…” is genuinely inspiring, and by the end, as Laura’s voice starts sounding a bit battered but still so sure of itself and its purpose, and now finds itself getting carried and pushed up the mountain by those guitars and backing vocals, summoning up the courage to once more declare “Early in the day, late at night / Whatever you’re feeling, you can always write / Send me a letter, send it to me when you wanna reach me”—by that point, Laura feels like a heroine.

Not a goddess or a princess, a heroine. Goddess and princess status is conferred by default, a ranking to set apart, to be untouchable. Laura is never untouchable. To be a heroine is to have earned it, to be deservedly seen as special. “Letters” is just one of the times she earns it. “Khaki & Corduroy” ends up being that way too, grown-up Laura looking back at her time in university in New York having been born and raised in Nashville, the way she sings “Your heavy satchel, full of books” sounds impossibly tender, remembering her uncertainty and vulnerability at that time with fondness, maybe even wistfulness, knowing that it turned out OK in the end. Then later, she sings of “nights spent in the Spanish club, your arms around the one you love… find the beat, slow and sweet / Neon glow and dancefloor heat”—ain’t a case of “I like to party / Everybody does,” but rather a memory of that awakening, the evolution of the self through love, dancing, sexuality, and freedom, all the while set to the slow, brushed drums and muted piano. The dancefloor’s empty, but it’s still beautiful.

There’s still so much we’ve not mentioned: the way that “14th Street” sounds like the great number one single that the world needs NOW; how “And Still”’s stop-start approach, building up to crescendo, then settling, then rising again like huge waves buffeting the cliffs takes that Calexico sound and uses it to perfection; the beauty of Cantrell’s storytelling on “California Rose”… Most of all, though, there’s “Bees.” Laura sings of the end. “My time is short now / I hear it coming / I see you darling / In the morning light.” It’s slow and impossibly dignified, Laura, a piano, and a humming noise. There’s a line about “I tune the crystal set / It’s never failed me yet” that makes me think of John Peel playing her records and it makes me weep a bit, but that’s just me. What ain’t just me is the part where the piano drops out and it’s just Laura.

I miss the bees
I miss their honey
I miss them humming
By the flowered vine
My time is short now
I feel it coming
I see you darling
On the other side

Tradition isn’t cliché. Hurting isn’t whining. Honesty isn’t unctuousness. The last song, “Old Downtown,” has a one a half minute outro, as Laura leaves the stage and the crowd applauds. Laura Cantrell—so good, she deserves an outro.



Reviewed by: William B. Swygart
Reviewed on: 2005-06-23

[johnfoyle]

http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/revus19e_20050619.htm

Detroit Free Press

Reviews

June 19, 2005



ROOTS
Laura Cantrell -- "Humming by the Flowered Vine" (Matador) ****


When a little-known musician gets raves early in her career from the likes of Elvis Costello and the late, great BBC DJ John Peel, you'd best take notice. Contemporary country vocalist Cantrell is capitalizing on that cult-hero acclaim with her third release, an exquisite collection of originals and covers that's evocative and intoxicating from start to finish.


Lucinda Williams is probably the first person you'll think of when you hear Cantrell's bell-clear voice, so it might not be a coincidence that she honors her musical mentor by covering Williams' "Letters." The album's title comes from "Bees," a tune written from the perspective of a dying person who mourns: "I miss the bees/ I miss the honey/ I miss them humming by the flowered vine."


Accompanied by a crew of top-drawer musicians, including members of Americana bands Ollabelle and Calexico, Cantrell has delivered an album filled with longing and reflection that goes right to the heart.


By Martin Bandyke, Free Press special writer

[johnfoyle]

Q, August '05

Laura Cantrell

Humming By The Flowered Vine
MATADOR

***
Country songwriter much admired by the late John Peel.

New York must have been a strange, otherworldly place for a Tennessee girl to find herself in the mid-’80s, a situation that Laura Cantrell effortlessly mines with a beguiling, sleepy-eyed nostalgia. The richly evocative Khaki And Corduroy recalls the ghosts of her college years, 14th Street captures an infatuation played out in public, while a cover of an unreleased Lucinda Williams song, Letters, looks back to a world before email. All delivered in a voice that’s as clear as a Great Smoky Mountain stream.
JOHNNY DEE

[johnfoyle]

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/07/01/42c57c51d1f80

The Oklahoma Daily ,
Saturday, July 2, 2005

CD: Laura Cantrell - Humming By The Flowered Vine

Laura Cantrell is one of those Nashville stories akin to the tale of country outlaw Willie Nelson. She is the kind of singer/songwriter who will never infiltrate the ranks of country radio.

Cantrell not only deserves air time on radio, but also compares to contemporary country and bluegrass luminaries. Cantrell’s aching tenor is a little bit Dolly Parton and a little Alison Krauss.

Humming By The Flowered Vine is Cantrell’s third LP and first with indie label Matador. It remains eclectic with each song, but Cantrell sticks with country.

Expert touches from the indie world highlight “And Still,” which features guitar work from members of Calexico. “Khaki & Corduroy” is the slowest ballad and ends in gentle hums. Here, in a smoky room, Cantrell paints visions of “Neon glow and dance floor heat” with the cool guidance of a soft snare drum. “California Rose” erupts with south-of-the-border guitar that evokes the work of outlaw country artist Joe Ely.

Cantrell seems to be inviting everyone into the world of bluegrass and alternative country. Even on the sad tracks she sounds hopeful.

Who Should Listen: Those who got left at the Union Station.

Danny Marroquin

[johnfoyle]

The best 'Indie' shop in Dublin have this to say about 'Humming -

http://www.roadrecs.com/stock/shopping.php3?start=1&action=4&artist=CANTRELL%2C%20LAURA

' the third album from this nashville born singer and her first for the matador label, features her cover of the lucinda williams track letters and the appalachian murder ballad poor ellen smith from 1927, a classic down home old style country folk sound, very high quality strong songwriting and a stunning voice, june 2005'

.......and they have the album in CD and vinyl.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.soundgenerator.com/burner/review_detail.cfm?reviewid=1078

soundgenerator.com

Laura Cantrell's music was brought to an audience outside of country fans by the late, great John Peel, who was both a devotee of Cantrell and a big fan of her gentle, country-based songs. 'Humming By The Flowered Vine' is the Nashville-born, New York-based singer's third album (following debut 'Not The Tremblin' Kind' and 2002's 'When The Roses Bloom Again'), and her first release on Matador Records. The sleeve notes themselves pay tribute to John Peel by dedicating the whole record to the legendary DJ.

In the folk tradition, many of the tracks on this album are either adaptations of traditional folk songs, or cover versions of songs by other artists of the genre. '14th Street', originally by Emily Spray, is a story of unrequited infatuation ("I see you on the street/you kiss my cheek/My knees go weak"). Awash with beautiful, crystal-clear vocals, gentle melodies and syrupy sentiments, it's a good indication of what's to come. Breezy, tuneful numbers like 'What You Said' - with its jaunty pace, fantastic harmonies and sprightly fiddle - sit alongside more thoughtful, melancholy-tinged efforts like 'And Still'.

'Khaki & Corduroy' is one of four original songs penned by Cantrell herself. Though it's an unremarkable tune, you find that even the weaker songs are bolstered by Laura's incredibly pure vocals, which are virtually impossible to criticise. 'California Rose' is the honky-tonk soundtrack to a whisky-fuelled hoe-down, 'Poor Ellen Smith' is a traditional story-telling country tune depicting the hunt for the vagabond who "shot poor Ellen down", but it is 'Letters' in which all the best elements of the record come together at once. Based on an unreleased song by Lucinda Williams, it is one of the rockier moments of the set. Beginning with all the charged atmosphere of a coming storm, it's not long before it bursts into a big, emotional chorus, with thumping drums and soaring vocals. You can almost see the gingham-bloused housewife, standing in her wooden kitchen, weeping copiously over her old love letters.

If you can swallow the clichéd nature of some of the songs (like 'Wishful Thinking', which - for all its pedal steel guitar and manic violin - is terminally predictable), then 'Humming By The Flowered Vine' is an innocent, enjoyable listen. Don't expect a high-octane, thrill-a-minute ride - that's not what this album is about - but take the opportunity to appreciate one of the less cynical, more joyful artists around at the moment.

Chris Watkeys

[johnfoyle]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062300613.html

The Washington Post

Friday, June 24, 2005

You can take the girl out of the country, even set her down in New York City for a long spell, but shake the country from her soul? Fuggetaboutit. If that's not the first and last impression left by Laura Cantrell's new and hauntingly beautiful release, "Humming by the Flowered Vine," it comes awfully close.

Cantrell brackets her third album with songs that evoke her urban cowgirl odyssey. The opening track, Emily Spray's "14th Street," finds her in Manhattan, swept up with the romantic possibilities that might flow from a random encounter with a stranger. The final track, the self-penned "Old Downtown," locates her back home in Nashville, taking inventory of things that shaped the city and her childhood memories of it.


Three songs were written (or co-written) by Cantrell, including "Khaki and Corduroy," a wistful Manhattan-inspired meditation; and "California Rose," a string-band tribute to her own honky-tonk hero, Rose Maddox. The original lyrics sit comfortably alongside songs composed by Cantrell's peers and role models. That comes as no surprise at this stage in her career, since Cantrell has always chosen songs that suit her plaintive voice and seem to reflect her own experiences. If Lucinda Williams hadn't composed "Letters," one of the album's highlights and a ballad about long-distance relationships, it's not hard to imagine Cantrell coming up with something similarly honest and yearning.

Turns out, though, that the oldest song here -- the murder ballad "Poor Ellen Smith" -- is also the most intriguing. Recalling a crime that occurred long ago in Winston-Salem, N.C., the narrative lyric was collected by Cantrell's great-great-grandfather's sister, "song catcher" Ethel Park Richardson.

-- Mike Joyce

[johnfoyle]

http://www.clevescene.com/issues/2005-07-06/music/playback4.html?src=default_rss

Clevelnad Scene

PLAYBACK
Laura Cantrell
Humming by the Flowered Vine (Matador)
By Chris Dahlen

Published: Wednesday, July 6, 2005



As the proprietress of Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU on the East Coast and an accomplished singer in her own right, Laura Cantrell is a champion of old-time country music -- and she makes it sound lovelier than ever on her Matador debut, Humming by the Flowered Vine.
Cantrell's precise, crystal-clear vocals are perfectly suited to these gorgeous melodies and honky-tonk rhythms. Only the Lucinda Williams cover "Letters" feels like a reach -- Cantrell doesn't have that much gravel in her soul. But she's achingly sad on the ballad "Bees," as the band ebbs and flows behind her. And on the record's clear winner, the infectious AM-radio pop gem "14th Street," Cantrell's measured, shy delivery matches the song's lovestruck protagonist, who can't decide whether to say hi or just hide. Timidity rarely sounds this pretty.

[transform]

http://www.transformonline.com/music/reviews/002471.php

Authentic country music (not to be confused with the likes of Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus), like folk music of other ethnicities, was born out of the life stories and oral histories of the people who sang it. Far from the worlds of fashion sense and music theory, country music served as entertainment, morality lessons, and the manifestation of an entire population spectrum’s existence: their voice, their everyday put to song, their mark on time.

Such characteristics, as intangible as the tunes’ musical anatomy is simple, are what "Humming by the Flowered Vine" is full of. Through Laura Cantrell’s voice (if not her songs: many entries are written by friends) and “common man” prose, the smell of earth and memories – of murder and love – fog up the senses, transcending the sum of chords and melodies. Long-dead personalities replay their tragic roles, childhoods come knockin’ on the backdoor, and the essence of living and dying American style become impossible to ignore. It’s not WHAT she’s playing or WHAT exactly she’s saying… it’s the ghosts in the tradition that Cantrell is upholding: they’re generations old and have found one helluva spokesperson.

The fact that Cantrell has a voice that could mend a 100 year-old family feud doesn’t hurt, either. Part comfort, heartbreak, wisdom, and plain ol’ silky kindness, it belies the fact that – underneath the tenderness – it carries colossal HUMAN EXPERIENCE. "Humming by the Flowered Vine" makes its heritage, as well as the age-old practice of folk songs, damn

[johnfoyle]

http://www.musicomh.com/albums4/laura-cantrell.htm

Country music - love it or hate it, it is music from the eternal, which you cannot deny. True, it has had a bad press of simple hick concerns and Kenny Rogers...or lest we forget Billy ‘The Devil' Ray Cyrus. But for the most part they are universal themes: the union of man and the earth, the crop and nature, the heart and the head, trust and deception in love, and the toil between the two.


Whether it be the preacher Johnny Cash, the spiritual angelics of Emmylou Harris, the trailer heroine-isms of Dolly Parton , the contemporary kooks of Gillian Welch or Lucinda Williams it prevails beyond mere fashion to something more fulfilling than an "achy, breaky heart".

So what's so special about Laura Cantrell to have the departed guru John Peel proclaim one of her previous albums as "my favourite record of the last ten years, and possibly my life"? The answer lies in the disarming simplicity of songwriting, and universal themes of heartbreak from an affecting soul. Coming with a high pedigree, Nashville-born, New York-living, this, her first major label debut continues her trajectory of gentle folk/country ballads as crisp and fresh as a sky full of gingham with none of the tweeness or retro qualities. Cantrell serves up contemporary country with no strut and bluster.

Opener 14th Street sets the tone with its sweet tale of unrequited love/ mild stalker ode from a female perspective that is actually about the divide between uptown and downtown New York. True there is a little more depth in instrumentation to these tunes than on previous outings, with a sweeping fiddle, heart-plucked mandolin, oboe and piano adding a rich colour backing to the crystal-clear sweetheart of the rodeo voice of Cantrell.

If any comparisons were to be made it would be to the equally sweet voice of Nanci Griffith, or a more chipper Cowboy Junkies. This collection seamlessly blends Cantrell's own songs with some well-chosen if somewhat obscure covers (breathing contemporary vitality into them, including Lucinda Williams' own brooding Letters) to the detriment of neither.

Elsewhere, California Rose tells of a fading dreams to a rollicking rhythm that is positively joyous. Bagsy she covers the entire Joy Division back catalogue! Similarly, Wishful Thinking rolls along on a sprightly fiddle and pedal steel guitar with sweet harmonies pulling every drop of sorrow and celebration mix together in a happy/sad cocktail that goes down easy.

Poor Ellen Smith conjures up gothic Appalachian death country and makes it sound like a breeze. But it on the more experimental tracks that Cantrell shines through; the spectral ambience of Bees, the simple elegance of Khaki and Corduroy and the plaintive And Still.

Possibly not the candidate for the 'favourite album of your life' but a breezy gust to blow away those dusty country preconceptions. If this is the first fruits of her first major outing, Laura Cantrell can cover her world in gingham should she so choose, knowing there will be an audience hungry to follow her voice through any number of variations from the norm.

- Andy Jex

[johnfoyle]

http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/new/2005/reviews_06.html


Joe Sixpack -

Laura Cantrell "Humming By The Flowered Vine" (Matador, 2005)

It's a delight to see when an independent artist crafts a masterpiece, particularly someone who's been around for a while and whose imperfections have been almost as charming as their artistic passion. On her third album, East Coast alt-country songwriter Laura Cantrell has crafted a solid, soulful work that may be the soundtrack for many a moody afternoon to come. Backed by East Coast indie-popster Dave Schramm and members of the uber-artsy, amorphous band Calexico, Cantrell shifts from style to style, drawing on numerous influences to forge a sparkling record with several memorable melodies. Unlike many big city altabillies, Cantrell seldom trawls through the depths of phony hick sterotypes to "prove" how country she is, and on this record she goes out of her way to claim ownership of her own urban identity, with songs that place the listener smack dab in the middle of New York, New York. For example, the album kicks off with its strongest track, "14th Street," a walking tour of heartbreak on concrete that half-unconsciously swipe its melodic hook from "There She Goes" by the La's. (Which, frankly, is fine by me. The next song, though, quotes that old Budweiser jingle... "when... you say... Bud!", which is a little more questionable...) Calexico & Co. prove themselves adept at absorbing country music, and when they do add a rock touch, it feels a bit raspy and Neil Young-ish; Cantrell anchors herself to her country roots through a fine, wistful version of the old Wynn Stewart hit, "Wishful Thinking," a plaintive rendition of the ballad, "Poor Ellen Smith," and her own "California Rose," a heartfelt homage to West Coast wild woman Rose Maddox. But while flexing her musical strengths inside a professional studio, with a versatile, ultramodern band to back her, Cantrell also zeroes in on unsuspected depths as a rock-popster, sounding as much like Linda Thompson as folkies such as Mary McCaslin. It's a glorious transformation, and this is an album that might floor more than a few listeners. Recommended!

[johnfoyle]

Laura Cantrell
Humming by the Flowered Vine


http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=3398

(Matador)
Release Date: 6/21/2005

Nashville-born New Yorker who boasts an archivist’s ear for folk and country

Reviewed by Ken Tucker



Laura Cantrell’s pearly tone is careful and precise—the voice of an extremely knowledgeable person who chooses songs with immense care and does her best to showcase their virtues to the point of self-effacement. This is both admirable and frustrating, because you want the hipster-approved roots-rocker to let loose, not to make, say, the preciousness of Lucinda Williams’s early, unrecorded “Letters” even more precious by approaching it as a holy relic. It’s not until the seventh song that voice and material converge satisfyingly: Biting into Wynn Stewart’s “Wishful Thinking,” a rich chunk of ’60s Bakersfield honky-tonk, Cantrell rolls out the heartbreak lament like the bitter misery love can sometimes be. Less folkie benevolence, more country hard-headedness, please.

DOWNLOAD: “Wishful Thinking,” “Poor Ellen Smith”

[johnfoyle]

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_20050617/ai_n14671822

Evening Standard , London


Laura Cantrell

Humming By the Flowered Vine (Matador)

LAURA Cantrell's voice is quite astonishingly pure, reaching the ear like sweet liquid air. Her album's opening, 14th Street, allows no other reaction than a long, slow smile.

The material here - a mixture of original compositions and covers - is loosely country folk, with fiddles and pedal-steel guitar adding distinctive cadences. In among the jauntiness, there is the usual obsession with death, notably a reworking of the Appalachian murder ballad, Poor Ellen Smith.

Which is not to suggest a formulaic set.

Letters, a Lucinda Williams song, makes sturdy progress, as does Old Downtown, while And Still suddenly flowers into electric guitar. Best of all is Bees: aching, otherworldly, out there.

Pete Clark

[johnfoyle]

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/features/story.jsp?story=651977

Sunday Life , Belfast , Northern Ireland.

CD Reviews: A brush with Americana


By Neil McKay

10 July 2005
LAURA CANTRELL - Humming By The Flowered Vine (Matador); LESLIE WOODS AND DARK MOUNTAIN ORCHID - The Luxury Of Sin (Glitterhouse):

BOTH these ladies operate in the broad alt country/Americana field, but to strikingly different effect.

Cantrell, now on her third album, is more straightforward and traditional in her approach, connecting with country's 50s and 60s heartland, on a set of songs balanced between originals and covers.

Less immediately beguiling than its two predecessors, Humming By The Flowered Vine is still well up to standard, and even finds Cantrell expanding her musical palette, notably on a tough, bluesy workout on the Lucinda Williams song Letters.

Woods, from Tennessee, is an altogether darker and more unsettling prospect. Her songs have a thick, treacly substance, and build a creepy, cumulative, brooding menace, that hints at dark deeds and thoughts.

It's hard to get a handle on initially, but like a fast moving sea mist you'll be surprised by just how quickly you find yourself trapped in its tentacles

[johnfoyle]

http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2005/07/14/104092.php

Reno Gazette Journal

Laura Cantrell should be played on K-Bull. But instead of the heart-tugging melodies and lilting voice of Cantrell, we get the same flag-waving, cliche-spouting good ol’ boys who have taken over country airwaves. Cantrell’s music is the music of front porches and family rooms, filled with twanging fiddle, soft, tinkling piano and even accordion. She reaches back in time to draw inspiration from the roots of American music and even reproduces a traditional song here, “Poor Ellen Smith,” about a man wrongly accused of his lover’s murder. Cantrell also brings to life an unreleased Lucinda Williams song, but has a few of her own creation. The songwriting is sophisticated without being flashy.
“I miss the bees, I miss the honey, I miss them humming by the flowered vine.”

If you miss the heartbreak and hope of bluegrass and the honeysuckle sweetness of musicians who write with their brains and sing from the heart, try “Humming by the Flowered Vine.”

Merrie Leininger

[johnfoyle]

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2005-07-13/music/rotations4.html?src=default_rss


Riverfront Times, St. Louis

As the proprietress of Radio Thrift Shop on WFMU on the East Coast and an accomplished singer in her own right, Laura Cantrell is a champion of old-time country music -- and she makes it sound lovelier than ever on her Matador debut, Humming by the Flowered Vine. Cantrell's precise, crystal-clear vocals are perfectly suited to these gorgeous melodies and honky-tonk rhythms. Only the Lucinda Williams cover "Letters" feels like a reach -- Cantrell doesn't have that much gravel in her soul. But she's achingly sad on the ballad "Bees," as the band ebbs and flows behind her. And on the record's clear winner, the infectious AM-radio pop gem "14th Street," Cantrell's measured, shy delivery matches the song's lovestruck protagonist, who can't decide whether to say hi or just hide. Timidity rarely sounds this pretty.
Chris Dahlen

[johnfoyle]

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:9ex8b5p4xsqe

Allmusic


Laura Cantrell knows and loves good music too well to be a purist, and while her first two albums, Not the Tremblin' Kind and When the Roses Bloom Again, were firmly grounded in her great fondness for country music, she expands her boundaries a bit on her third set (and first for Matador), Humming By the Flowered Vine. While the feel of Humming By the Flowered Vine isn't radically different than her previous work, the sound and arrangements offer some new wrinkles, with producer J.D. Foster and a superb cast of musicians edging Cantrell into an inventive pop direction. The pensive love song "14th Street," a strong but sorrowful reading of "And Still," and the rare Lucinda Williams composition "Letters" all speak of a riskier musical mindset than Cantrell has allowed herself in the past, and the results are beautifully expressive and gracefully executed while quietly bearing a considerable musical weight. Fans of Cantrell's more traditionally oriented work need not fret, as her lovely covers of "Wishful Thinking" and "Poor Ellen Smith" confirm she still has a superb command of classic country styles, and her voice has lost none of its lovely clarity while revealing an even greater emotional force on these sessions. And while Cantrell is a marvelous interpretive songwriter with nearly faultless taste, her originals rank with the album's finest material; "Khaki & Corduroy," "Old Downtown," and "Bees" are all crafted with the wisdom and care of a fine short story. Humming By the Flowered Vine is an album that's a joy to listen to without sounding simple or hollow, and resonates with an evocative beauty comprised of both compassion and intellect; this music easily raises the bar for this gifted artist.
Mark Deming

[johnfoyle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/folkcountry/reviews/lauracantrell_humming.shtml

BBC Radio

It's difficult third album time for Laura Cantrell, whose first two releases delighted and intoxicated many (including Mr John Peel, to whose memory this album is dedicated). Now signed to indie label Matador and with a supporting cast that includes members of Calexico, it'd be easy to imagine this record ending up as a trainwreck, derailed by unsympathetic production, ill advised song choices and so on.

And it could so easily have been that way, but hey, everything's ok. From the opening "14th Street" it's clear that Ms Cantrell's ear for a good tune hasn't deserted her. Written by NYC singer songwriter Emily Spray, it's a dreamy slice of bittersweet pop (more sweet than bitter) that I'll probably never tire of. Cantrell's clear, conversational tone may be understated, but she can deliver the kind of emotional punch that Kate Rusby can (ie when you're not expecting it).

This is true for most of this record, and especially so on Cantrell's own "Khaki & Corduroy" and the (almost) title track "Bees". Both are beautifully wistful, impressionistic observations that attest to her growing strength as a writer. Even though as ever her choice of covers is exemplary, from Lucinda Williams' "Letters" to Bakersfield boy Wynn Stewart's "Wishful Thinking". The only slight disappointment is the traditional "Poor Ellen Smith"; Cantrell doesn't really convince singing from the viewpoint of a male murderer. There again, it might be my lack of imagination that's at fault here...

The guitars may be a bit brasher on occasion and there may be a slightly more expansive (and maybe expensive) approach to production, courtesy of JD Foster, whose credits include Dwight Yoakam, Marc Ribot and Nancy Sinatra. But Cantrell isn't swamped at all; her restraint remains her most powerful weapon. If "Bees" doesn't bring a lump to your throat, you're much harder than I am. And with a playing time of just under 39 minutes, you're left wanting much more. Lovely.

Reviewer: Peter Marsh

[johnfoyle]

http://www.junkmedia.org/?i=1601

Laura Cantrell's new Humming By The Flowered Vine is a country record through and through, but it's also very much a New York City record. From the Union Square locale of the opening "14th Street," to the homesick urbanite in "Letters," Humming By The Flowered Vine takes the rootsy sounds of classic country music (incorporating Hank Williams, Lucinda Williams and everyone in between) and plops them smack dab in the middle of Manhattan.

It looks like a tricky juxtaposition on paper, but Cantrell and her collaborators pull it off gracefully. Though she may have been saddled with the dreaded alt-country tag, there's really very little "alternative" about the music here; Cantrell isn't interested in deconstructing the genre - she's more interested in paying tribute to the best aspects of it. Her genuine love for this kind of music shines through on every song on Humming. The bulk of the album is made up of covers, but the three Cantrell originals threaten to steal the show. The penultimate "Bees," in particular, can stand among the finest country ballads of the last 60 or so years.

Tyler Wilcox
July 12, 2005

[johnfoyle]

http://www.shakingthrough.net/music/shakethrus/2005.htm#92

July 19, 2005

Laura Cantrell: Humming By The Flowered Vine
Matador, 2005
Rating: 4.0

Nashville-born, New York-based Laura Cantrell is obsessed with finding a pure country sound. Not the latest marketing-driven Toby Keith patriotic anthem or sugary pop confection perfected by Shania Twain: Cantrell prefers dirt-free, articulate production, with an emphasis on the stories behind the songs, a truth that goes beyond contrived lonesome ballads or Saturday night shit-kicker stomps. Humming By The Flowered Vine, her third album, is a well-sequenced blend of interpretations, originals and covers. The traditional “Poor Ellen Smith,” about a man sent to the gallows futilely professing his innocence, is imbued with an unvarnished, acquiescent insight -- as when the condemned narrator gazes from the bars of his cell and studies the grave of the woman he’s accused of murdering. The Cantrell-penned “California Rose” pays tribute to honky-tonk singer Rose Maddox, who agonized over leaving the family singing group to strike out on her own, and moves at a quick but measured clip, conveying a lot of information with easy sincerity. Cantrell brings a guarded toughness to Lucinda Williams’ “Letters,” backed by some suitably sturdy guitar lines. Obviously, the peerless craft and genuflecting reverence are beyond reproach; those desiring a more progressive form are out of luck. Cantrell is all about keeping the flame of the past alight, and in that respect Humming By The Flowered Vine burns with dazzling clarity.

::: Laurence Station

[johnfoyle]

http://tirbd.blogspot.com/2005/07/wishful-thinking.html

7.26.2005
Wishful thinking

I have been working harder than usual to get into Laura Cantrell's latest disc, Humming by the Flowered Vine. I do so with good reason; the disc is receiving phenomenal reviews, so it is clear there is something of value to be had within its grooves. Try as I might, however, I find little to like. Cantrell has a pretty voice, and her choice of covers is impeccable. But the performances are so stilted, and her delivery is so pristine as to be lifeless. Perhaps it's not fair, but she sounds like what she is: an investment banker with a sweet voice who is dabbling in country music. I'd wonder why Matador Records, of all places, saw fit to release her disc, but because I'm clearly in the minority here it actually seems like a pretty safe choice as the label tries to diversify.

I can thank Cantrell for bringing the band the Blood Oranges back to mind, however. I cued up her recent performance on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" this morning, and was pleasantly surprised to see former Blood Orange bandmates Jimmy Ryan and Mark Spencer playing mandolin and guitar, respectively, in Cantrell's band. The band put out two great country-rock-bluegrass discs in the early '90s, including its swan song, The Crying Tree, which was as good an alt-country disc as was released back in the heyday of the form. These two, along with singing bassist Cheri Knight (who put out two great solo discs of her own in the late '90s) and drummer Ron Ward were a quartet ahead of its time. All were great players, but the mix of hot bluegrass playing and alt-country rock textures predated the "Oh Brother" movement by too big a stretch and the band split up. Ryan has appeared as a sideman on a few recordings in the intervening decade and with the spin-off bluegrass group the Beacon Hillbillies, while Spencer has been busy adding his tasteful guitar leads to the music of Kelly Willis, Freedy Johnston and Jay Farrar, among many others.

It's nice to see Ryan and Spencer still playing together. There isn't much out there about the band (though unlike most come-and-gone groups from that era, their out-of-print discs aren't exactly cheap online), so it's good any time they can get some notice. For Cantrell's sake, one hopes Ryan and Spencer can help her to create music that has a bit more feeling and passion. If they're looking to back a talented female singer, perhaps they should continue the renewed partnership with Knight that yielded the song "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet" for the Slaughter Rule soundtrack in 2003.

[johnfoyle]

http://inleaguewithpaton.blogspot.com/2005/07/no-show-for-old-crows.html


' posted by Daniel'


‘Humming By The Flowered Vine’, the rather convolutedly-titled third full length from Laura Cantrell. It comes dedicated to the memory of John Peel, which endears it to me before I’ve even heard the music it contains. Cantrell’s voice is a treacly confection, lending this album a deceptively straightforward quality. Much of it is soft, delicate and understated, and it occasionally veers into whimsical terrain. Like her previous releases, there are only a handful of self-penned songs, the rest of the album being given over to interpretations of traditional material and cover versions of country standards. The covers, however, cannot be considered mere filler as they are absolutely fundamental to the shape and pacing of her collections. They also demonstrate just how comfortable Cantrell is with her material – she has a vast knowledge of country music as any listener to her radio thrift shop show will surely attest.

‘Humming…’ certainly has its moments of, ahem, hummable sweetness, most notably the lovely opener ‘14th Street’ (which somehow manages to make stalking an entirely innocent activity) and Cantrell’s own ‘California Rose’ (a wonderfully restrained country shuffle). Elsewhere, however, there are signs of burgeoning ambitions, not least on guitarist Dave Schramm’s ‘And Still’, which alternates between passages of elusive calm and more striking punctuations, characterised by some expressive fretwork. Best of all may be the traditional murder ballad ‘Poor Ellen Smith’ which Cantrell inhabits with genuine sympathy and understanding.

Throughout, Cantrell’s voice rarely veers away from the melody line – she is a rare breed of singer these days, almost entirely eschewing virtuosity. This makes her all the more adept at handling the constrained emotions of country songs. It’s particularly illuminating to hear her tackle something like Lucinda Williams’ ‘Letters’, the song sounds more vulnerable when stripped of Williams’ gutsy, guttural character.

‘Humming…’ so comfortably fits into a rich seam of tradition that it almost feels like an enticing invitation to another era. From it cover art to the photograph of Cantrell next to a piano inside the sleeve, much like The White Stripes, there seems to be a particular aesthetic at work. Whereas The White Stripes often leave a lingering, knowing smirk, there can be little doubt that Cantrell is entirely sincere. I’ve been meaning to investigate her earlier albums for some time. On hearing this, my resolve is much stronger.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/features/story.jsp?story=654889

Sunday Life , Belfast

Country & Western: Laura's light and effective touch


By Ralph McClean

31 July 2005
NEW York country queen, Laura Cantrell, is that rarest of breeds, a singer who actually knows what she's talking about.

While most performers would run a mile over broken glass, rather than talk about their chosen career, Laura has made a living out of it, and become an established American radio DJ in the process.

Now, I've never heard the lovely Laura spinning the country platters that matter on her popular Radio Thriftshop Show, let's face it it's not that easy to pick up broadcasts from the big apple in this neck of the woods, but listening to her latest album, Humming By The Flowered Vine, certainly makes me hope she never gives up the songwriting to take up radio full time.

Quite simply, it's one of the sweetest country releases of the year to date.

Where some new artists trudge along, chained down by all the clichés of country music, Laura's touch is light and effective. Songs like 14th Street and Old Downtown, roll along beautifully and by the time the last track fades away into the distance, you'll find yourself agreeing with the likes of Elvis Costello, that Laura is one of the most original new talents around today.

The late John Peel was another high profile fan of her work, and claimed her previous album, Not The Trembling Kind, was his favourite album of all time. When you sample the simple country delights on offer here, it's easy to see why he was so enamoured of her. Cantrell's voice wins you over immediately, with great originals like California Rose and superb covers like Letter, originally recorded by one of Cantrell's heroines, Lucinda Williams.

When I first heard her take on great traditional songs, like Poor Ellen Smith, I thought immediately of the work of country crooners, like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline at their very best. Given that I rate Patsy as perhaps the greatest female country voice of all time, that is praise indeed. For those who like their country conservative, the good news is the backing is resolutely traditional from start to finish, with fiddles and pedal steel guitar weeping away soulfully throughout.

No matter how sweet the musical sounds on offer are though, it's Laura's unique voice that really sets her apart from the crowd. It's crystal clear and pitch perfect most of the time, and while it has a tendency to wander a little off key occasionally (something she's certainly been guilty of on previous albums), it's still worth the price of admission on its own.

Laura has just rounded off a tour of the UK with an appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival, but I was lucky enough to catch her with her full band, last year, when she made her debut Northern Ireland appearance at the Real Music Club, in the Errigle Inn.

Live, that fragile little voice took on a new powerful dimension, and she got an amazing reaction from the Belfast crowd. Here's hoping she comes back soon

Ralph McLean presents McLean's Country every Saturday night on BBC Radio Ulster, between 8 and 10pm. Listen during the week at www.bbc.co.uk/radiofoyle.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1282&dept_id=553365&newsid=14984247&PAG=461&rfi=9

McKeesport Daily News, PA
August 05, 2005

Laura Cantrell

"Humming By the Flowered Vine"

Matador

**** out of five

Laura Cantrell hasn't done too bad for herself since shelving her career as a banker and taking up country-flavored rock.

Her third album "Humming By the Flowered Vine" is an excellent, folky gem highlighted by Cantrell's soft, distinctive voice, excellent songwriting and good decision-making as far as whose work she samples.

"Humming" kicks off with traditional country in "14th Street," an ode to a New York street that has a place in Cantrell's heart. "And Still" kicks up the intensity and brings on the rock, though not in overbearing doses, which leads into soft, warm "Khaki and Corduroy," a vivid memory piece about the friends she made upon moving to the Big Apple in the mid 1980s.

"Poor Ellen" is a fairly honest take on a traditional number, and "Bees" is a heartbreaker about someone who realizes life is fading and there isn't much time to enjoy the wonders of it.

But just when it seems Cantrell can't top herself, she does. Album closer "Old Downtown" is an amazing song, with strong storytelling and emotional phrasing that make it the album highlight.

Maybe she could have made more money banking, but Cantrell is richer artistically for choosing the path she did.

RIYL: Neko Case, Emmylou Harris, Kathleen Edwards (BK)

[johnfoyle]

http://www.dailyiowan.com/media/paper599/news/2005/08/18/80Hours/The-Enchanting.Type.Of.Country-967409.shtml

The enchanting type of country

CD Review - Laura Cantrell: Humming By the Flowered Vine

By Layne Gabriel - The Daily Iowan

Country certainly doesn't appeal to everyone on the planet, but don't dismiss it so quickly. A fan of indie rock, frat rock, or classic country can find something to love in Laura Cantrell.

The Nashville native only got her name into the music scene in 2000, but her most recent endeavor, Humming By the Flowered Vine, is a gorgeous collection of emotional and atypical country anthems.

Straying from the pop-country style, she is far more of a traditional, Loretta Lynn-type than a country crossover, Shania Twain-type. Thank goodness. Cantrell's tracks are thoughtful and insightful, slow and mellow. Her lyrics are simple yet intense. Ballads such as "Khaki and Corduroy" linger gently and beckon the listener's ear to her enchanting sound.

Her style can appeal to a variety of audiences, which is one of the great successes of Humming By the Flowered Vine. Fans of such artists as Dave Matthews can appreciate Cantrell's intricate instrumentation and mellow tone, while fans of female indie vocalists such as Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley will be drawn to her haunting vocals throughout the piano ballads and comfortable compositions.

Standout tracks on the record include "Letters," with a catchy refrain "Send me a letter / send it to me when you wanna reach me / I might be in California / New York City / Or Nashville, Tennessee."

The record is not all ballads, which gives listeners an opportunity to get comfortable with a style of music that may not be too familiar. "California Rose" is much more of a classic country track that Lynn could just as easily have sung.

Cantrell makes effective use of a variety of instruments, from violins to guitars, and the way the instruments are layered is creative and cohesive. Her voice lacks the strong country twang that listeners would expect from Nashville singers in the genre, but her vocals do possess the slightest touch of Southern hospitality. Her tracks vary from story songs to brooding love ballads, and her versatility proves successful regardless the particular sound she is going for.

Humming By the Flowered Vine is a lovely collection of profound yet energetic, thoughtful yet fun, and layered yet simple music from a promising young country artist. If only the genre would move back toward artists such as Cantrell, it would earn a better reputation.

E-mail DI reporter Layne Gabriel at:

laynegabriel@yahoo.com