Wreck & Ruin (Sugar Hill, 2012)
Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Reviewed by Lee Zimmerman
Granted, the songs on "Wreck & Ruin" can't claim a venerable birthright, but Chambers and her husband and partner Shane Nicholson give them a dusty, sepia-tinged treatment that has them sounding archival all the same. Recorded in the far reaches of the Australian Outback, the songs are given stripped-down arrangements that seem especially apt for recasting traditional tunes. Not surprisingly then, banjo, Dobro, fiddle and mandolin are the instruments of choice, which not only accommodates the bare-boned feel of songs like Dustbowl, Rusted Shoes andFamiliar Strangers, but also the knee-slapping revelry of the title track and Sick as a Dog. That unassuming approach also works wonders in conveying the gospel-like devotion inherent in Have Mercy on Me, not to mention the old time ambiance of a track like Up or Down.
Music often makes the world seem like a small place, a notion that an album like "Wreck & Ruin" effectively implies. Indeed, credit Chambers and Nicholson for suggesting Aussie's Outback and the rural reaches of Americana are intrinsically tied.
CDs by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
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