Newsletter Becky Feb/Mar 2018 Buller
Becky Buller – Crépe Paper Heart
Released to coincide with St Valentine’s Day, Becky Buller’s latest album “Crêpe Paper Heart” is the tour-de-force that you would expect from the IBMA 2017 winner of both vocalist of the year and Fiddle player of the year and, IBMA 2015 Songwriter of the Year.
As well as the esteemed members of her band; Ned Luberecki, Prof. Dan Boner, Nate Lee, Brandon Bostic and Daniel Hardin, Becky has enlisted the talents of Sam Bush, Rhonda Vincent, Claire Lynch, Frank Solivan, Rob Ickes, Erin Youngberg and the Fairfield Four. With he exception of the bonus track “Phoenix Arise” all compositions are by Becky alone or with other excellent songwriters, and like all good songwriters she has taken many of her own personal and family experiences as a basis for her songs.
The album opens with the upbeat “Another Love Gone Wrong” where the solid banjo of the usually shy Ned Luberecki introduces the strength of Becky’s voice, which then goes on to her smooth harmonies with Dan Boner and Daniel Hardin. The following track changes the mood with a delightful and warm ballad called “Bitter Springs to Big Trees” which introduces the first of her guests, Frank Solivan on mandolin.
The iconic Sam Bush joins Becky on “The Rebel and the Rose,” a definitely Old Timey composition where their vocals, supported by only clawhammer banjo and mandolin, combine so well to give the song a very intimate feeling. “Heart of the House” with the resphonic guitar of Ron Ickes, is a very accomplished ballad with a haunting arrangement. The exceptional musical skills of the Becky and her band are highlighted in the instrumental “Cair Paravel,” named after a castle in “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis.
“Speakin’ to That Mountain” a collaboration with Jeff Hyde is strong song about trials and tribulations, well crafted and well arranged. “She Loved Sunflowers” where a Becky duet with Claire Lynch is a moving tribute to the memory of the daughter of close friends. Picking up the tempo with another duet, this time with Rhonda Vincent is “Calamity Jane”, a well-paced outlaw song penned in collaboration with Tim Stafford.
You cannot get a better group of voices for a gospel song then the Fairfield Four, a Grammy award winning group that has been in continued existence since 1921. Becky blends splendidly with their range voices in her a capella song “Written in the Back of the Book”.
The excellent bonus track “Phoenix Arise” was originally released as a single to benefit the burnt down part of Madelia in Becky’s home county. It features Jana and Stephen Mougin the names behind Dark Shadow Recording who produced this album.
This is an album that feels like it comes from to Becky’s heart. Bringing together songs from her personal history it has light and shade, drive and pathos, and there is not one bad track. Well produced by Dark Shadow Recording, engineered by Stephen Mougin and mastered by Dan Glasser at Airshow Mastering, this is a quality product.
Available on iTunes
