Customer Reviews

Broken Promises

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I don't want to say Mary's voice is an acquired taste; I liked it when I first heard it 20+ years ago. But it is not "pretty", especially these days when the producer and the engineer determine what female singers sound like (and amazingly, they sound so much alike...imagine that!). But Mary is an authentic folksinger, carrying the earth and the wind and the rain in her voice.

This CD is even more challenging than her others. On first listen I thought "Oh my, she's lost the ability to sing." But more time has made me realize that these are different songs, sung by a woman who's experienced more bitterness and disappointment than she should have. Not angry, not vicious, not bellicose, she just conveys great sadness and the shock of feeling the befuddled loss that so often accompanies middle age.

This is not a quickie to be gulped and consumed, rather, like a fine port that contains great pleasure in the strength and acid and pungency, it is to be sipped and savored. Give her a try. No one sounds more real....and she consistently makes other singers sound like the "pop" they are.

Mary McCaslin and her late husband Jim Ringer were staples of the folk circuit in the 1970s, and , according to many music critics, remain vastly underrated. "Broken Promises," released in 1994, was Mary McCaslin's first album in many years. Although the wait was way too long, the end result is well worth it.

McCaslin's work always combined a feel for the open spaces of the West with an intensely personal sensibility. Her voice and her guitar work were unique, influenced by the acoustic folk tradition, but molding it to suit her own purposes. This is still the case in "Broken Promises. " By no means is this a happy album. It chronicles the breakup of McCaslin's marriage to Jim Ringer, and as such is both bittersweet and introspective. These are sad, wistful songs, but they're not bitter. Instead, they reflect the passing of years as a relationship slowly disintegrates and the singer's attempt to get on with life. These songs may reflect McCaslin's own experience, but, like all great songs, they're universal.

It's hard to pick out favorites, since the songs are all so strong. If I had to, I'd probably pick "Ghost Train," for its haunting metaphor , and "The Abyss." McCaslin's version of the Beatles' "Help" is a revelation. One of her strengths has always been her ability to cover other writer's songs and to wring new meaning out of them. But even as I write this review, I'm listening to the CD and different songs catch my attention.
This is one of those rare albums that reveal something new with every listening.

I am very fond of this album--it is introspective and sad, it expresses the losses McCaslin has suffered through the last couple of decades. Her voice is a bit more edgy than it was in her first album, but I think that adds to the impact of what she is singing about. It has the same western feel to it that Way Out West, her first album, had--conveying the Southwest and California, the open spaces, the deserts and mountains--but in this one all of those images are inside/interior--it is a very confessional album (whereas Way Out West was comprised of story telling, like traditional folk songs generally are). This is a much more personal collection of songs.

I wandered into Portland's Music Millenium several years back when Mary was giving a free public performance along with another gifted traditional singer, Skip Gorman. Initially, I was more taken with Skip. I still like his music quite a bit. However, the quality of Mary McCaslin's song writing and her sincere and endearing voice also captured me over time.

She writes quite honestly and effectively about losing those you love the most. And the pain and loneliness that follow. She does it with compassion and feeling--not with great anger or self-indulgent pity.

She's a fine singer and songwriter that deserves far greater recognition. Her songs are extremely honest and revelatory. Listen and see what you think.

Okay, okay I have had enough. Recently I received a spate of e-mails from aging 1960's folkies asking why, other than one review of Carolyn Hester's work late in 2008, I have not done more reviews of the female folkies of the 1960's. To balance things out I begin to make amends here. To set the framework for my future reviews I repost the germane part of the Carolyn Hester review:

"Earlier this year I posed a question concerning the fates of a group of talented male folk singers like Tom Rush, Tom Paxton and Jesse Colin Young, who, although some of them are still performing or otherwise still on the musical scene have generally fallen off the radar in today's mainstream musical consciousness, except, of course, the acknowledged "king of the hill", Bob Dylan. I want to pose that same question in this entry concerning the talented female folk performers of the 1960's, except, of course, the "queen of the hill" Joan Baez. I will start out by merely rephrasing the first paragraph from the reviews of those male performers.

"If I were to ask someone, in the year 2008, to name a female folk singer from the 1960's I would assume that if I were to get an answer to that question that the name would be Joan Baez (or, maybe, Judy Collins but you get my point). And that would be a good and appropriate choice. One can endlessly dispute whether or not Baez was (or wanted to be) the female voice of the Generation of '68 but in terms of longevity and productivity she fits the bill as a known quality. However, there were a slew of other female folk singers who tried to find their niche in the folk milieu and who, like Baez, may today still quietly continue to produce work and to perform. The artist under review, Carolyn Hester, certainly had the talent to challenge Baez to be "queen of the hill."

Well, as the CD under review will testify to, the singer /songwriter Mary McCaslin also was in contention, back in the days. I am not familiar with the current status of Ms. McCaslin as a performer although I know several years ago I attended a benefit concert to raise funds for her medical needs. Nevertheless I can remember the first time I heard her in a coffeehouse in Cambridge doing Woody Guthrie's "Oklahoma Hills Back Home". And that was appropriate as Ms. McCaslin is certainly in her singing style and her songwriting interests attached to the Western United States. That tradition got an additional acknowledement in that Cambridge performance when she brought down the house with her version of the country classic "Pass Me By If You're Only Passing Through".

That theme and, in addition, several more inward searching tracks, make this a very representative McCaslin effort. Needless to say "Way Down In Texas" sticks out on the first theme and "The Abyss" on the second. She also does a very fine version of the Beatles tune "Help". So, all in all, whatever her later personal journey back in the days she could have been a contender for "queen of the hill". Listen up.