featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
March 13, 2021
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
Janet Simpson doesn't necessarily have to tell listeners at the start of her first proper solo album: I ain't one of these Nashville girls ... Those tall thin girls whose faces show no pain / Their ballerina limbs fold up like paper cranes. While the music of Safe Distance can be vulnerable and even unrefined at times, there's nothing fragile about Janet Simpson.
From Birmingham, Alabama, she's served in some pretty substantial bands. Simpson fronted the overlooked Delicate Cutters, then added a degree of alt to Teen Getaway. See also her work in the essential Wooden Wand with James Jackson Toth. More recently, she's collaborated with fellow Alabamian Will Stewart under the guise of Timber. It's all Janet Simpson, and it's all worth tracking down.
Safe Distance (Cornelius Chapel, March 19) lands as somewhat of a surprise considering that resume. While Simpson is not one of those Nashville Girls, the first two-thirds of her new collection serve as a terrific alt.country exercise, a genre that's present in most of her work, but more as a shade than a primary color. That opener sets the edge with a guitar jangle, glimmering synths contributing to the song's retro vibe. Simpson also sings in a voice whose punk and pop roots show through at times. With its stabbing guitar, "Reno" recalls Freakwater at its heaviest, the singer's voice both fully embracing trad country and wooing the song in a more insurgent direction.
A multi-instrumentalist, Janet Simpson leads a small outfit on Safe Distance (including Will Stewart on guitar and backing vox) that demonstrate a capable abandon, typically playing more alt than country. "I'm Wrong" features a catchy pop chorus that finds the singer with a fetching catch in her delivery: There's a sweetness in this grime / And dirt sure never stopped me in my tracks. Like her work with Delicate Cutters, Simpson's more restrained moments can be beautiful and haunting. The waltz-timed "Slip" adds an echo to its forlorn baritone guitar like a Southern iteration of Elliott Smith. Both "Awe and Wonder" and "Ain't Nobody Lookin'" are darkly devastating pieces, lovely blood-red ballads. There's an unguarded quality to Simpson's singing that can make magic of her more vulnerable work: I ain't desired / Ain't nobody lookin' at me.
An acoustic guitar chirps to life a full eight songs into Safe Distance, effectively marking the moment when the session becomes more than just a superb alt.country beacon. Tunes like "Black Turns Blue" and "Wrecked" are less electrically charged, more folk-informed than country. I've been drinking all my feelings Simpson sings on "Black", a piece built on keys and a subtle atmospheric breeze. A conversational, off-hand sensibility drives the acoustic "Wrecked": Maybe the edge is right where I belong. Even the comparably bluesy "Mountain" points to elements of Janet Simpson's musical identity that might hint at heretofore unexplored territory. A bonus, as though the earlier alt.country weren't enough.
Safe Distance is an unpolished gem, a collection that finally brings Janet Simpson to the front of the stage, presenting her as more than just one part of a larger ensemble. Listeners for whom she is an unheard name would be wise to reach back to some of her earlier work, since these new sessions shine more brightly in that fuller context. As a musician, a writer and a vocalist, one hopes Distance will encourage her to get out of Birmingham more often.
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Let's glance haphazardly at some of the more notable adds to A Routes & Branches Guide To Feeding Your Monster. Based on his pandemic-times livestream series, Todd Snider's First Agnostic Church of Hope & Wonder will dawn April 23, on the wings of Aimless Records. Miranda Lambert's next project is a stripped-back session of largely acoustic numbers. Due May 7 on the Vanner label, Marfa Tapes pairs her with fellow singer-songwriters Jon Randall and Jack Ingram. Less than three months after their last collection (13, reviewed right here at R&B HQ), Pine Hill Haints have scheduled another full-length. The Song Companion Of a Lone Star Cowboy is set for a May 14 release on the Haints' new Single Lock Records home. Good to know that Jayhawks front-man Gary Louris is keeping busy. Louris has announced his second solo CD, Jump For Joy, scheduled for June 4 courtesy of the SHAM label. Finally, we knew to expect something from Hiss Golden Messenger, and now we have more info. Stay tuned for Quietly Blowing It, coming June 25 on Merge Records. You can see a full 2021 calendar by clicking on the link above - it's updated regularly.
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