“In this vain world of troubles, many accidents occur/I’m going to sing about one as sad as you’ve ever heard.” So begins “Granite Mills”, a story of a fire in Fall Rivers, where a town might have been saved “had the truth been told from the flames of the burning mill.” The song has an exceptional mix of anger, pity, and tragic certainty; its classic, declaiming melody is driven by accordion, fiddle, and hand-held frame drum.
That opener is most compelling moment on Spine, the second album of acoustic, tradition-centered music by Cordelia’s Dad. The band provides a key missing puzzle piece in alternative country, laying bare and highlighting the British Isle styles and song sources at the heart of the oldest old-time country. And they do so with musicianship that’s impeccable, an imaginative range that’s never a staid exercise.
Produced by Steve Albini, Spine is a fuller, sonically richer successor to the band’s 1995 album Comet, replete with dulcimer, banjo, bodhran-style drumming, and “beating sticks” on at least one instrumental medley. (The style is unique to the American South: As the fiddler plays on the upper strings, someone else raps straws or knitting needles on the lower. It’s an odd, raw percussive sound, and adds a tremulous edge to the fiddler’s chords.)
The selections balance sumptuous instrumentals, notably Tim Erikson’s solo guitar piece “In The Cars On The Long Island Railroad” and fiddler Laura Risk’s take on two French reels; “Abe’s Retreat”, however, is, at 6:20, too long by half.
The band’s intricate, droning shape note singing may startle the uninitiated at first. But listen closely: Within the sharp, sometimes brittle, folk geometry on Spine moves the ardent, volatile spirit of alternative country.