Album Review – Gillian Welch ‘The Harrow & The Harvest’
I firmly believe that one of the problems with modern music is that there’s too much of it. So to see an artist, especially one as influential, critically-acclaimed, and well-received by the public as Gillian Welch wait 7 years to put out an album, is refreshing, and wise. Quality over quantity people.
But time and patience don’t guarantee a good album. What does is excellent songwriting, and that is exactly what Gillian delivers in The Harrow & The Harvest. Superbly-crafted, dark, sometimes even disturbing songs employ subtlety and wit so well, it rockets the songcraft on this album to the top of the 2011 class, and makes The Harrow well worth the wait.
From a songwriting standpoint, there is not a weak track on this album. Each song conveys an underlying theme, message, or lesson, or all three, and like all great songwriting, affords brilliant perspective on life.
The difficulty of this album that some, maybe many people will find will be the sparse nature of the music. This is mood music, not music for every mood. The album features David Rawlings on guitar, and not much else; some banjo and harmonica on “Six White Horses” and banjo again on “Hard Times”. The inability of this album to separate the individual songs through production, or separate them from Gillian’s body of work in total might bring some to want more from this album, or even find it boring. I would caution though that this album is meant to be listened to, not heard. No, there’s not a lot of booty shaking to go along with The Harrow & The Harvest, but there’s no intention in this album to effect that response either. The intention is to capture the heart of the song as it was envisioned by Gillian, and though a few more subtle layers of production might have helped this album, drums or a more electric approach might have buried the song’s greatest attribute, which is the words themselves.
And for people who want more meat or body from this music, don’t overlook this element in the lyrics. The music may be liliting, but there’s a lot of anger, soul, torment, and blood in the words and stories. Gillian builds a song out from a torment or innate human frailty like a rock band may build a song from an angry guitar riff. Something else worth noting is that Gillian doesn’t over-sing, like many of the up-and-coming women who fit in this “Americana” genre that Gillian helped forge.
This album is one of those that needs multiple listens before you can fully appreciate it, but once it sticks to your bones, not listening to it enough will not be an issue, because you might need a pry bar to get it out of your player.
Two guns up.
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Purchase & Preview Tracks of The Harrow & The Harvest
July 12, 2011 @ 12:12 pm
“…this album is meant to be listened to, not heard…”
That has got to be the greatest compliment you can give an album. Thanks for the great review, right after I get the new William Elliot Whitmore album outta the CD player, this one’s goin’ in.
July 12, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
Right on, man. This is a great album. Not my favorite of hers, but still good nonetheless.
July 12, 2011 @ 4:37 pm
For me, this one has the feel of “Time (The Revelator),” which I love and think of as “The Gillian Welch Sound.” I haven’t gotten “into” this one yet as I haven’t had the time to really invest in it, but so far it is incredible. You must remember that the closest thing to a mediocre Gillian Welch recording is still miles above most of what else is out there.
July 12, 2011 @ 5:38 pm
Nice review, going to pick this up.
John, if you can get the new W.E.W out of your record player anytime soon, you’re better than me! Great stuff as always from the Iowa boy!
July 12, 2011 @ 6:16 pm
I almost dozed off listening to those samples and that artwork is seriously creepy. She looks like a long lost Olsen twin. I’ve always thought David Rawlings is hot though. In other words, I have nothing of any value to contribute here so I’ll go now. Night night.
July 12, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
I love the stripped down style of music. Not unlike the aforementioned William Elliott Whitmore or the recently discussed Townes Van Zandt, sometimes it’s best to let the singer carry the song. I am really digging this gal and truth-be-told it’s probably because of Hank3 that I gave her a chance after he praised her on – I believe – Outlaw Radio last year… Good stuff.
July 13, 2011 @ 6:24 am
So very nice, subtle and tranquil, with a heavy hand of those heart felt blues. From these Amazon samples, Hard Times and The Way the Whole Thing Ends are standouts.
Great blog Triggerman.
July 13, 2011 @ 6:53 am
I think this album is excellent as well The lryics are great, it “sounds” good to me and the musicianship is top notch IMO… The last few weeks has been loaded with great releases with Eilen Jewell, William Elliott Whimore and this one..
July 15, 2011 @ 1:46 am
Love this album,
Hey trigg and everybody.
we should start a post where everyone puts up their latest, favourite albums. To give people a chance to learn some new names and here some new music going around.
July 15, 2011 @ 7:29 am
http://www.forum.savingcountrymusic.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9
July 15, 2011 @ 9:10 pm
awesome thanks!
July 29, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
finally something.
October 9, 2014 @ 9:58 am
I love everything about this album. I think its one of their best! Can’t wait for the next one, as they seem to get better and better.