ALBUM REVIEW: Playful Songs Explore Deep Places on Holler Choir’s ‘Songs Before They Write Themselves’

Asheville, North Carolina-based bluegrass group Holler Choir serves up a gentle irony with the title of their debut LP, Songs Before They Write Themselves, that runs throughout the entire album. In a time of growing concerns over the potential impact of artificial intelligence on musical creativity, lead vocalist and lyricist Clint Roberts has crafted songs inspired by his muses, not by ChatGPT. With credit for everything but the band’s cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” Roberts delivers lyrics often in tension with his playful, rollicking tunes. What results is an album that invites close listening, not merely streaming as singles.

Singing his own songs (often with unexpected lyrical phrasing) Roberts demonstrates impressive vocal quality and range. At the core of the band, Helena Rose joins on clawhammer banjo and well-suited backup harmonies, and Norbert McGettigan keeps rhythm on the standup bass and vocals. A large cast of fellow musicians joins them, adding instrumentation like dobro, pedal steel, octave mandolin, and various keys, which differentiate Holler Choir from traditional bluegrass. While Holler Choir’s musical influence is obviously rooted in their Appalachian surroundings, the band also combines elements of Americana, folk, and even world music.

Over the course of the record, Holler Choir’s songs explore deep questions about faith, and truth, often putting a new spin on familiar motifs. The narrator on a road trip in “Summersville” observes the sign on a church marquee reading, “God don’t want visitation. He wants total custody” and concludes that “God sounds like an angry ex-husband to me.” He opts instead for “an altar in [his] hotel room” and “take[s] communion under bathroom lights.” Even more explicitly, in “Ain’t Too Soon” Roberts describes “some specter that claims my name” looking for God. He concludes, “a barstool’s better than a pew … if you’re looking for truth and some peace of mind.”

But other songs on Songs Before They Write Themselves seem to be more about interpersonal relationships. Both “Darlene” and “Fair Weather Lover” suggest cutting ties with fickle, unfaithful partners. In the former, the narrator reacts to Darlene’s nightly appearances in his dreams “inside of the scary room otherwise known as my head.” “Fair Weather Lover” evokes imagery of sailing in both stormy weather and fair winds, rejecting a lover who shows up only after the rough paddling is done.

Ultimately, the tracks on Songs Before They Write Themselves are fit for more than just catchy refrains and sing-alongs; the musical composition and engaging lyrics invite listeners to pay close attention and join the band on their journey of exploration.

Holler Choir’s Songs Before They Write Themselves is out Jan. 12.