Songs I Can't Live Without (TallGirl, 2020)
Marshall Chapman
Reviewed by Jim Hynes
This is a 'bucket list' project, recording favorite songs. Of course, she breathes new life into these songs with her intimate, haunting, expressive lived-in voice which Hubbard and bandmates Will Kimbrough and Dan Mitchell frame beautifully.
Songs range from Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song" to Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" to J.J. Cale's "After Midnight" to Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone." Hubbard is adept at framing singers with spare backdrops and just the right ambience as he does here. That combination of his production values and Chapman's emotive voice works wonders. You'll hear these songs differently than you ever have. The only odd choice, at first, seemed to be the closing hymn, "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands," where she sings as well as sermonizes. Yet, leave it to Rodney Crowell for putting it in the context of what we all feel today, "And there's the added value of her sermon at the end...quite possibly halting the spread of COVID-19." Well, she alone unfortunately cannot do that, but her effort provides comfort in these trying times.
The CD is available for purchase at Marshall Chapman's website.
CDs by Marshall Chapman


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