Album Review: Rumer – Nashville Tears  (Cooking Vinyl)

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Rumer pays tribute to Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame alumnus Hugh Prestwood. The match is like vintage whisky, or bourbon to be accurate. Glides down so smoothly and the warmth then resonates through you.

Born Sarah Joyce, in Pakistan when her British parents were living there helping to build the Tarbela Dam. It turns out Rumer is half Pakistani.

Her artist name comes from Rumer Godden, an English author who also lived in India and set novels in that country.

She had been involved in various band projects starting this millennium, but recorded her first solo album in 2010. Seasons of My Soul went platinum, and last year was recognised as one the 40 biggest selling debuts of this century to date. Praise from Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Jools Holland.

Hugh Prestwood was born in El Paso, Texas but lived and wrote all his songs in New York. He was discovered by Judy Collins in the early Seventies. Predominantly regarded as a Country music writer, although this easily bleeds into Folk. Not too far from Springsteen in sentiment but more idealized and embedded in the mythic Romantic South.

Number one hits of his songs have been recorded by Randy Travis, Crystal Gayle, Shenandoah, Trisha Yearwood for starters.

Fate of Fireflies immediately acquaints us with Rumer’s voice. It is Karen Carpenter in tone, ease and warmth. It starts with lush strings but then sheds that to reveal an old school Folk Pop song. A pedal steel adds sentiment.

June It’s Gonna Happen is summer from its Folk Country lyrics to the shining pedal steel and piano like a spring shower. Heat of your smile/ Chased him away/ Let out of school/ With all summer to play.

Oklahoma Stray is a stray cat Blues. But actually, it’s a long metaphor to how damaged a lost love can be. Rumer sings this with tenderness and restraint.

Fed her for a year/ Never did we touch/ Maybe some hearts truly break/ Trust drains away/ From hearts cut to the bone.

George Jones would have a choke and sob in his voice. Rumer achieves the same quietly but still dripping pain.

Bristlecone Pine is Folk with a dark, gothic heart. Accompaniment by Lost Hollow.

Ghost in the House was a number one song for Shenandoah. It is lockdown perfect. I don’t pick up the mail/ I don’t pick up the phone/ I keep the lights down/ I don’t live in these rooms/ I just rattle around/ As quiet as a mouse I haunt these halls.                                                                      The reason for all this melancholia is an all-consuming, but now long-lost love.

Rumer sings pitch-perfect. She can reach peaks quietly, but is always restrained and never unleashes or let’s go. There is colour and nuance, but it is subtle and consequently the songs reveal themselves over time.

Richard Carpenter wrote to her after her debut album. He praised the old school melody and musicality of her songs. Something he felt seemed to be lost in recent times. Old School it turns out is timeless, judging by her popular success.

Deep Summer in the Deep South then is a change. A Delta Blues electric slide guitar close to Duane Allman. It’s hot, sticky and lazy and the voice is sultry and promises sugar.

Learning How to Love starts with the guitar intro to the original Twin Peaks. Sadness, loss and heartache clings to this despite the prettiest of pedal-steels. The narrator is an old man now who was rough in his ways and only now I can see by your eyes/ I have hurt you. The mood is ambivalent and all held inside. But in the mind’s movie, Levon Helm is playing him and would have a catch in the voice, whereas the woman singing now is resigned.

The Snow White Rows of Arlington is deeply patriotic in text, but the music undercuts it all with sorrow. Then the soft understated singing reveals the sharp hooks hidden inside. A lot of perfect reasons to never fight another war.

One more perfect song tucked in at the end. Half the Moon is Folk Country. Nicely picked acoustic guitar and mandolin. One heart is committed and one is not.     

I like tribute albums. Most times they are multi-artist. Listen to them and in the jingle jangle morning they draw you in. With this album Rumer makes lets some classic songs stand by themselves and shines from within.

Rev Orange Peel

Click here to find the 13th Floor interview with Rumer.     

Rev Orange Peel
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