If you’re headed to Austin in March for South By Southwest, drop by the corner of Sixth and Brazos most any night during the conference. You’ll probably find Mary Lou Lord there, busking for passersby, and it might be one of the best shows you’ll see. If you’re lucky, she’ll have some copies of Baby Blue she can sell you.
Lord’s first studio effort after a three-year break (during which time she had a daughter), Baby Blue returns her to the full-band setting of 1998’s Got No Shadow, picking up where that album left off. Bevis Frond mastermind Nick Saloman returns as her main collaborator, writing or co-writing 11 of 14 songs, co-producing, and dropping in just-right guitar flourishes throughout.
The most successful songs here are the ones that sound like they’d work on a street corner, making effective use of Lord’s shaky murmur of a voice. The album is dedicated to the late Elliott Smith, and “43” would have made him proud.
When she tries to rock a bit on “The Inhibition Twist”, she sounds lost and swallowed up. But Baby Blue hits more than it misses, especially the title track (a Badfinger tune) and a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Fearless”. The one solo Lord composition, “Long Way From Tupelo”, is the twangiest she has ever sounded.
