KATE CAMPBELL
1,000 Pound Machine
Large River 5112

www.katecampbell.com/large-river-music
www.katecampbell.com
 

This is Kate Campbell’s 14th release. Bookending the collection is Kate’s musical explanation of the mechanics of her “1,000 pound machine”: her piano. The first cut has lyrics, the last cut is an instrumental version of the same song. Straying from her usual guitar accompaniment, Kate uses the piano throughout.

Southern images of cotton, Jesus, curtains of cane and red clay staining the rivers, leak in and out of this new collection of her new 10 cuts, plus the traditional “Walk With Me.”

In “Wait for Another Day,” while facing all the bills, chores, and other pulls of life she sings herself permission for all these distractions to be damned because there is “Only one thing I need to do, sit right here and tend to you.” The use of the word tend is bigger than simply “be”, exemplifying Campbell’s pattern of careful word choice.

After setting the scene in “Montgomery to Mobile” we spy on George Wallace and Rosa Parks hypothetically chatting and sitting together on a bus. They look out the window wondering if the passing of time would be enough to change the blindness, the fear and the views, so to speak.

Kate’s harmonica buddy, Spooner Oldham, gets his own tribute in “Spoonerville,” acknowledging his addition in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

This is a tempered listen, dotted with patient and calming cuts. In fact no songs are up-tempo but, rather, are sweet slow melodies. There are harmony credits for Sloan Wainwright and Emmylou Harris, though each is used minimally. This daughter of a preacher offers up southern comfort with just a hint of politics.

— Angela Page