Terri Binion’s Intense and Personal Journey

Over ten years is a long time between albums.

Orlando, Florida-based singer songwriter Terri Binion has just released The Day After The Night Before and there is a wealth of inspiration and heartache in this powerful collection of eleven songs.

The Day After The Night Before follows the tragic loss of her partner, along with both parents, and an aftermath that included a long and unsuccessful bid for same sex marriage recognition.  In 2011 Terri Binion‘s wife was killed in a fork lift accident on a Cirque du Soleil set in Florida.  As Binion and her partner were married in California, she could not obtain any legal recourse in Florida, which did not recognize same sex marriage at the time.

This immensely personal group of songs has an intensity and honesty that is hard to neglect.  It is not just raw emotion on display here though.  The fine songwriting is beautifully detailed and captivating arrangements permeate the album.  And it is not bitter and depressing, there is hope and a sense of looking forward.

‘Long Way Back’, the album’s opening track, is a perfect example:

“When I go swimming

In that deep green sea

I think of all the many waves

In which one could easily slip away

But I always return 

To that shining shoreline

Because that long cold descent

Is simply no way to die”

‘Burden Song’, the second single from The Day After The Night Before is a sweeping, alt. country epic, amongst the finest songs I have listened to for a while.  Over six minutes with emotional resonance and blistering playing which takes you on a hell of a ride.

Other highlights are ‘Tiny Little Land Mines’, ‘Walking In Circles’ and ‘Orphan Boys’ (the latter with a seamless segue to Neil Young‘s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’. It’s no surprise that Terri Binion has got a few classy music admirers – Lucinda Williams, who sang on Binion’s 2004 release Fool, Jim White and legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb.

The Day After The Night Before – Track List