News
Morning Call review of "The Art of Virtue"
6/1/2005
ADRIENNE YOUNG
& LITTLE SADIE
"THE ART OF VIRTUE"
(Ryko)
COUNTRY | Adrienne Young's first record, 2003's "Plow to the End of the Row," came with a packet of wildflower seeds. On her second CD, "The Art of Virtue," the singer-songwriter-banjo player offers fertile tips on living more simply, nobly and wildly. Young sings beautifully and believably on the fiddle tune "My Love Will Keep," an oath of fidelity down to "where the roots grow deep." She feeds her inner Loretta Lynn in "Ella Arkansas," the sassy, touching tale of a train-racing free spirit who birthed 10 kids, becoming the mother her mother wasn't. She conjures Mary Chapin Carpenter in a Cajun mood in "Wedding Rings," a catchy, witty roller coaster of warnings (i.e., don't marry the banjo player). "Walls of Jericho" is an overly familiar call for social revolution, while a rather safe bluegrass take grounds the gospel standard "Farther Along." But the final track, the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace," cleanses the ears and nourishes the soul.
Geoff Gehman
& LITTLE SADIE
"THE ART OF VIRTUE"
(Ryko)
COUNTRY | Adrienne Young's first record, 2003's "Plow to the End of the Row," came with a packet of wildflower seeds. On her second CD, "The Art of Virtue," the singer-songwriter-banjo player offers fertile tips on living more simply, nobly and wildly. Young sings beautifully and believably on the fiddle tune "My Love Will Keep," an oath of fidelity down to "where the roots grow deep." She feeds her inner Loretta Lynn in "Ella Arkansas," the sassy, touching tale of a train-racing free spirit who birthed 10 kids, becoming the mother her mother wasn't. She conjures Mary Chapin Carpenter in a Cajun mood in "Wedding Rings," a catchy, witty roller coaster of warnings (i.e., don't marry the banjo player). "Walls of Jericho" is an overly familiar call for social revolution, while a rather safe bluegrass take grounds the gospel standard "Farther Along." But the final track, the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace," cleanses the ears and nourishes the soul.
Geoff Gehman
