The cover photograph of Monuments shows a collection of sculptures below a sign advertising tombstones for sale. It’s a fitting image for an album dealing with change and the mortality of people, places and ways of life.
Campbell’s songs evoke strong images of her native south with a sharp eye for little details. “Petrified House” tells of a woman trapped in the past who believes, “Cotton’s still king and the south didn’t fall/As long as wisteria climbs up the wall.”
In “New South”, Campbell tackles the flip side of the equation as she tries to come to grips with tradition being pushed aside in the name of progress. Producer Walt Aldridge utilizes a traditional folk blues arrangement augmented by Dixieland horns as a clever musical counterpoint to the song’s contemporary themes.
Campbell’s understated vocal delivery provides a quiet strength to her songs. “How Much Can One Heart Hold” calls up images of Martin Luther King and a mother mourning the death of her son in wartime. It’s a spirited, melodic song steeped in the folk tradition.
The daughter of a Baptist preacher, Campbell tackles life in this world and the next on “William’s Vision”, the story of a memorial sculptor whose beliefs are as solid as the marble he works with. It’s a song that recalls the Carter Family’s “Diamonds In The Rough” with its themes of faith and keeping an eye on the prize.
