Album Review – Paige Plaisance’s “Swampwater”

Honky Tonk (#510.2), Gulf and Western (#568), and R&B-inspired Americana (#570.5) on the Country DDS.

If you to find the standard American salt and pepper musical diet somewhat unfulfilling, Paige Plaisance is here to spice it up. Paige’s distinctive sound combines her Louisiana roots with a Texas honky tonk setting that she affectionately calls “Swampytonkin’.” And with the help of her backing band The Yeah You Right Boys and producer Jonathan Tyler, Plaisance’s new album Swampwater is perhaps her best specimen of this distinct yet keenly familiar sound that’s steeped in American roots traditions.

Originally from Louisiana near the Mississippi River, Paige now most commonly plys her craft at the honky tonks in and around Austin, TX. This includes Sagebrush, where she keeps an Airstream trailer full of vintage clothes on site, and hosts a seasonal “Honky Tonk Catwalk” fashion show that has become quite the spectacle. Though her old soul pursuits, Paige has earned a rabid audience locally, a loyal audience internationally, and toured all around the United States.

For Paige Plaisance, her music and songwriting bounds from the piano as opposed to the guitar. Though Louisiana is draped all over this record like Spanish moss, you won’t hear any squeeze box, French vernacular, or ‘tit fer triangle. It doesn’t attempt to be a Cajun record. There is plenty of fiddle though, and Paige splurges for the horn section on certain songs to give it that NOLA kick. Swampwater is a great throwback listening record, with bold flavors and distinct character.

The songs of Paige Plaisance tend to sneak up on you. There’s often no clear or obvious hook. It’s the groove and the moods that eventually immerse you like quickmud until you find yourself craving seconds. Starting off the record with the song “Make Mine Country” earns Paige fast friends in the country realm, which she keeps feeding with all the twang and steel guitar on the album. By the time the title track hits the bridge, you’re totally bought into what Paige Plaisance is throwing down.

As much as this album is a sonic exploration of the musical influences crisscrossing the Sabine River, it’s also an album about leaving and being left behind. You wouldn’t call it a songwriting record specifically, but Paige certainly has her moments. When she sings in the soulful, Muscle Shoals-inspired song “Movin’ Out,” “When a woman starts thinking about moving out, she’s already gone,” she’s dropping some wisdom all the men in the audience would be wise to heed.

Plaisance loves to evoke the geography and wildlife of her native state in her songs. What starts off as ruminations on feathery friends like “Great Blue Heron” and “Hummingbird” become metaphors for dour moods and lovers who love to flutter away. The horns aren’t overpowering, but they help see the riverboat setting of “From Natchez to New Orleans.” The song “Swampwater” itself is a murky, enchanting trip into the mystery of the marshlands that might morph into a murder ballad under certain interpretations.

Swampwater is a total vibe, taking you to a time and place that is distinct and faraway from the cookie cutter America most of us find ourselves immersed in. It’s swampy, groovy, country, and cool.

8.1/10

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Stream on Spotify