Music Spectrum went on an unscheduled hiatus in recent months. This review is part of the “basement notebooks”—old reviews written by hand but only being posted online. Enjoy!
Kane Welch Kaplin (Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin) and their self-titled release draw from many sources in the Americana songbook—the folk moments of Chris Smither, the Texas hills of James McMurtry, the layers of guitar of Bruce Cockburn, and the new country of Hayes Carll. On “Callin’ You,” there’s also the new grass banjo/fiddle sound of A.J. Roach.
“Dark Boogie #7” takes the form of the spoken word/noodling/jamming instrumentals of Peter Mulvey. Welch delivers the line: “I don’t know if Jesus died for me/All I know is Jesus died.”
The Gospel country blues of “No One Told Me” preaches to me like a fine musical sermon which I could really see as following Martin Luther’s story. “New revolution…no one told me”—he didn’t really see how much of a storm it would cause to preach the Bible. “Isolation…no one told me”—he didn’t know how alone he’d be when Rome turned on him. “Absolution…no one told me”—the whole reason Luther did what he did is because he realized the church wasn’t preaching absolution—forgiveness freely given through faith in Christ.
And then Luther sings the chorus with Kane Welch Kaplin:
But Lord, I’m free
Free from the sorrow, Lord, I’m free,
Free from the pain, Lord, I’m free,
Free from the sadness, Lord, I’m free,
Free in your name.
Kane Welch Kaplin/Dead Reckoning Records
Compass Records
