Lucky Enough (Green Mountain, 2019)
Reed Foehl
Reviewed by Brian Baker
Two years ago, he decided to try his luck in Nashville; he'd co-written the song "Fly" with Brent Cobb, which earned a Grammy nomination on the strength of Lee Ann Womack's stellar 2014 version. He'd only been in town a month when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, necessitating his move back east and a long stint as his mother's caretaker before her eventual passing last year. During that difficult period, Foehl wrote the songs that now comprise his fifth solo album, "Lucky Enough."
Foehl has the same songwriting eye for detail, ear for melody and empathetic soul as peers like Ron Sexsmith and David Olney; when he sings, "We are heartbroken, but lucky enough," on the ostensible title track, "If It Rains," it's clear that he's experienced dark times, but chooses to sing in the light, bruised, but not demoralized.
Any of the 10 songs on "Lucky Enough" - from the country blues croon of "Long Time to Make Old Friends" to the pop waltz of "Carousel Horses" to the Band-like reverie of "He's on an Island" to the John Prine-flecked "Wish I Knew" - would sound spectacular with no more than Foehl and his guitar, but luckily (enough) he enlisted the assistance of Band of Heathens to back him on the album, who helped Foehl buff them to a rich sheen without overpolishing them into something that they're not meant to be. Foehl is not a household name, but he sings about issues that touch every household, and they'd be moved to tears to hear their lives reflected in the beauty and emotion of "Lucky Enough."
CDs by Reed Foehl

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