Album Review – Mac Cornish’s “Wayfaring Woman”

Classic Country (#510.1) and Country Folk (#575) on the Country DDS.

Once a hidden gem of the West Coast music scene, Mac Cornish looks to stoke a national narrative around her music with her new album Wayfaring Woman. Written mostly by Cornish herself, she solicits the services of producer Andrija Tokic, known for working with the likes of Luke Bell, Benjamin Tod, Melissa Carper, and the highly-regarded new album from Ian Noe. With a crack group of Nashville musicians such as steel guitarist Russ Pahl, Billy Contreras on fiddle, and the legendary Dennis Crouch on bass, they bring Mac’s vision of ’60s country mixed with vintage Laurel Canyon folk alive.

Originally from the Santa Cruz Mountains of California where she spent time on her grandfather’s cattle ranch—and citing the sounds of Laurel Canyon such as Linda Ronstadt and Gram Parsons as strong influences—Mac Cornish has always looked to the past for inspiration. Much of her earlier work was more folk-oriented with country leanings. But after stints helping to cultivate Portland, Oregon’s country scene and then moving to Nashville for a spell, Cornish is looking to put her unique stamp on old country.

The music of Wayfaring Woman is very much in the classic country, ’60s and ’70s vein. But the way Cornish approaches the writing of her songs, and with her more expressive vibrato-enhanced vocal delivery, it gives you a lot of those West Coast folk revival vibes as well. It’s not an entirely novel approach when raffling though old country records of the era. But it is distinct from the more common pastiche of so many of today’s throwback country sounds from East Nashville.

Wayfaring Woman isn’t as much about chasing a dream as it is running away from a broken heart. The ten original songs do work as a travelogue of sorts as Cornish blazes a trail from the West Coast and back, and tries to busy her mind by touring and playing music. But really this album is Cornish’s exploration of the shallow emptiness of the honky tonk scene full of flashy characters and false prophets that can lure a lonely woman in, but ultimately leave you unfulfilled.

Hot twangy honky tonk music creates the setting for these stories, with the Telecaster and steel guitar making the perfect catalyst for two-stepping and tempestuous romantic interactions like in songs “I Fear (It’s Becoming Clear)” and “Barfly.” But beneath these more specific scenes seems to be an underlying heartbreak from the past that lingers. Cornish speaks about this in the song “Motor Inn,” which might be the album’s best, and where the melding of her pronounced delivery with vintage country music really makes for an enveloping listening experience.

It’s fair to wonder if Mac Cornish’s vocal delivery is a little too expressive at times, especially for the musical accompaniment she’s chosen for these songs. Though it’s her signature and the way she’s been singing her entire life, perhaps drying out the warble in some songs ever so slightly could make the experience feel a bit more warm for country fans. Sometimes it can get in the way of understanding the lyrics. The way Bella White found the sweet spot between being expressive and articulate on her last album might be of benefit to Cornish too.

It’s also Mac Cornish’s strength and signature that she can bring folk and country together, and marry them into sentiments about love and love lost the resonate universally with all fans of music. This is what she does to favorable results on Wayfaring Woman, making for a record that feels both unique and familiar, faraway yet fresh, and full of the kinds of emotional moments we all find so appealing.

8/10

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Stream/download Wayfaring Woman