ALBUM REVIEW: With Solo Debut, ‘Dear Life,’ Brenna MacMillan Delivers a Bluegrass Reflection on Life

From the opening notes of Brenna MacMillan’s debut solo album Dear Life, her authenticity shines through. The album is a collection of original songs, which opens with the autobiographical “What’s to Come?” revealing, “I grew up Kentucky born – Texas mom, dad from the north.” Her bright, pure voice bears the Kentucky stamp. The songs that follow, though, display the versatility of her vocal range.

On “For Everything,” the album’s second track – and second single released from the project – Sarah Jarosz joins MacMillan in harmony. The gentler, mellow song, with the addition of drums and steel guitar, stands in contrast to Dear Life’s jauntier opening track.

Peter Rowan adds his signature haunting touch to “If You Dare,” the album’s third track. Along with saxophone and electric mandolin, MacMillan’s lingering banjo notes build the mood:

            Tree dog howlin’ far away

            noise like frightened women make

            . . .

            [as] Shadows dance and make a spell;

            If you fall, you’ll go to hell.

Much of the variety of the album results from the guest vocalists who join MacMillan on the project, a testament to the place she has carved out in the Nashville bluegrass community. Ronnie McCoury, who adds harmony on the opening track, also joins MacMillan and East Nash Grass fiddler Maddie Denton on vocals for “Used to Live Here,” on which MacMillan reckons with change.

“Sweet Thing,” one of the album’s most traditional tracks, delivers a honky-tonk duet with Gavent Largent with some stellar mandolin licks from Largent’s bandmate Harry Clark and Billy Contreras on accompanying on fiddle. MacMillan is also joined on several of the songs by her brother Theo MacMillan (her former duet partner) on piano and vocals.

A thread of reminiscence extends through the album to the closing track, “That Small Valley,” which opens with a fragment of a home recording – a few lines of “Red River Valley.” Primarily instrumental, the song is a tribute to MacMillan’s grandmother, expressing a longing to “go back once more” to that remote, peaceful spot.

Throughout the project, Brenna MacMillan moves from her down-home Kentucky twang to controlled and wispy upper vocal range, as each song demands. While Dear Life is anchored by a core band of Mike Bub on bass, Jake Stargel on guitar, and Chris Scruggs on steel guitar, the roster of musicians on the album reads like a Who’s Who in bluegrass. Together, the songs weave a tapestry that paints a picture of this dear life.

Brenna MacMillan’s debut self-released solo album, Dear Life released on Oct. 18.