Album Review – Kelsey Waldon’s “There’s Always a Song”
#510 and #518 (Traditional Country, Old-Time) on the Country DDS.
Taking a quick detour from her towering albums of original songs, the “Pearl of Kentucky Country Music” Kelsey Waldon stops down to leave behind some signature versions of her most favored songs from the vaunted canon of early country music that have heavily influenced her career.
One of the reasons touring musicians also tend to be such astute students of the music is because they spend so much time traveling the highways and byways of America listening to it. Sometimes it’s a special song that gets you through the last leg of a long journey home, or is extra sentimental on a certain stretch of road. Assembling a carefully selected playlist of these cherished tracks results in the album There’s Always a Song.
There are plenty of other versions of Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen” or The Carter Family’s “Hello Stranger” out there in the wild. But there weren’t any that featured the unique and alluring vocals of Kelsey Waldon. Beyond being a covers album, There’s Always A Song is a strongly vocal album that explores the contours and wonders of Waldon’s tone.
The album includes two a capella tracks, including opening with Jean Ritche’s old folk song “Keep Your Garden Clean.” This immediately sets Kelsey’s voice as the centerpiece of the work. This vocal-centric emphasis is then underscored by bringing in a host of collaborators, including fellow Kentuckian S.G. Goodman on an excellent version of “Hello Stranger,” and Isaac Gibson of 49 Winchester on “I Only Exist.”
Instrumentation isn’t inconsequential though. Waldon’s right hand woman as of late is fiddle player Libby Weitnauer who has become instrumental to Waldon’s sound and is all over this album. However, it’s the fiddle of Amanda Shires that steps into the spotlight of Kelsey’s version of “Uncle Pen,” which takes on a slowed down and slightly funky bell bottom feel, similar to the treatment Tyler Childers’ Food Stamps give to their cover songs.
Margo Price shows up to sing on what might be the most overall entertaining song of the set, a supped-up version of “Traveling The Highway Home” that reminds you in many respects of Willie Nelson’s family band at the height of their powers in the early ’80s.
Cover albums are often depreciated in an artist’s catalog because they can’t include the level creativity original albums can, at least on the surface. But Kelsey and her collaborators really make the eight songs of There’s Always a Song their own, as cliché as that might sound. She selected songs she could deliver with passion and that accentuate her vocal strengths, and that give a road map back to her most defining influences.
8/10
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Purchase from Oh Boy Records
May 24, 2024 @ 8:37 pm
Need to dive into her music more, like what I hear!
May 24, 2024 @ 8:54 pm
Really loving this album. Usually covers albums tend to be boring and cheesy. Kelsey does a great job of making these songs her own. Too bad Margo doesn’t make music like this anymore. Traveling The Highway Home is one of my favorites on the album.
May 25, 2024 @ 5:26 am
From those two songs featured here, this album deserves a look see. Good music is good music, original or not. Im not a fan of giving cover albums more than their due but not less either. Ill def be checking it out.
May 25, 2024 @ 6:01 am
The cover of Ola Belle Reed’s, “I’ve Endured,” is great. Why Ola Belle isn’t know like Maybelle Carter, I just don’t understand. Her nephew Zane Campbell’s album, “Postmortem Blues,” is one of my favorite country albums of all time.
May 25, 2024 @ 6:57 am
Correction: Campbell’s album isn’t called “Postmortem Blues.” I realize I just call it that because of a song on it. It is just called “Zane Campbel.”
June 21, 2024 @ 9:26 am
My favorite song on the album
May 25, 2024 @ 9:37 am
As usual, I first take a listen and then, if still interested, take a read. The first song piqued my interest, the second one made me rush for the “purchase” button, that one is everything that is good in Country music and everything that make Country music such an amazing genre. A great adherence to the technical side of performance that allows for such wave of emotion to wash over you. Loved every second of it.
May 28, 2024 @ 2:34 am
…that smile of kelsey waldon after 28 seconds on the official clip of “hello stranger” is priceless. whether she is deeply satisfied with s.g. goodman’s or the other musicians’ terrific (beefy) contributions – or her own, when listening to the final recording – may be anyone’s guess. but it’ll be hard to beat that (most charming) facial expression for quite some time, i feel. the album is a fine one overall, yet nothing on it comes close to that new take on “hello stranger”. easily one of the best collaborations or duo performances of the year.