If you mention the name Lori McKenna to anyone who has an interest in mainstream country, most likely they’ll have no idea what you’re talking about. The reality is that she is responsible for several country hits including RaeLynn’s ‘God Made Girls’, Tim McGraw’s ‘Humble And Kind’, and, perhaps most famously, Little Big Town’s Grammy winning ‘Girl Crush’. On top of writing hits, she’s also wrapped up considerable critical acclaim for a lot of her own albums like ‘Lorraine’, ‘The Bird And The Rifle’, and this new album ‘The Tree’.
Known for her delicate and understated yet powerful and raw approach to fusing the best parts of country and folk, I was almost certain that Lori McKenna and her collaborating producer Dave Cobb (known for his work in country and southern rock with Jason Isbell as well as for having produced McKenna’s last album ‘The Bird And The Rifle’) would deliver and live up to my already high expectations. So, how is ‘The Tree’?
In short, it’s phenomenal. While to many it may appear that McKenna has not strayed particularly far from the formula that worked on ‘The Bird And The Rifle’, but why fix what isn’t broken. The result is a melodically rich, subtlety and stunningly performed and gorgeously produced album that never fails to amaze me every time. The kind of album that’s hard to really negatively criticise, it’s that good, and a huge reason why the album works so well is Lori McKenna herself and her vocals. In terms of capturing the joy, confusion, and resentment regarding times passage, you can’t get better than McKenna’s subtly emotive delivery. She’s consistently excellent on this album, but the amazing raw emotion that she brings to ‘You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone’, ‘The Lot Behind St. Mary’s’, and ‘Like Patsy Would’ cannot be overstated and are all moments of indisputable beauty on this album.
However, without the right production, the vocal delivery would not be as effective as it is. In this department, Dave Cobb delivers with a selection of rich arrangements that play gloriously to McKenna’s strengths. Cobb gives every song on this album a distinctive and organic instrumental presence, with the only slight misstep being the broader tones on ‘Happy People’ that clashes a tad with the rest of the album. On the other songs you get rich guitar tones, gentle percussion that is mixed only to support the melody and not to stiffen it, and a ton of intricate instrumental motifs all mixed to perfection.
But the real selling point of this album is Lori McKenna’s songwriting, and it might just be the best part of the album. McKenna’s unmistakable ability when it comes to discussing complicated emotions with appropriate framing is simply stunning and something you need to listen to to believe. It may start of fairly simple with ‘A Mother Never Rests’, a song that Brandy Clark did do a tad better on her song ‘Three Kids, No Husband’, but the album truly gets going on the song discussing what it means to grow up on ‘People Get Old’, and the reflection of what it meant to be young on what is essentially a sequel to ‘We Were Cool’ on ‘The Bird And The Rifle’ on ‘Young And Angry Again’, but that does not prepare you for amazing centrepiece track ‘You Won’t Even Know I’m Gone’, a heartbreaking breakup song where the breakup itself is largely in the subtext leaving the text to discuss the efforts of the girl to just make the entire situation go down as easy for a heartbroken guy as she prepares to move out. Littered with the kind of beautiful mundane details, it might be the best song I’ve heard all year, and the way McKenna can pack such a punch in little over two minutes only goes to demonstrate that McKenna is a songwriter at the top of her game.
In fact, there's only one really misstep on this entire album in terms of the songwriting. That being the incredibly misplaced 'happy people don't criticise' line on 'Happy People' that would be intolerable if it wasn't Lori McKenna delivering it.
But there is more to this album than just simple explorations of the past, as McKenna is not afraid to dive head first into exploring what could have been in her life if things had been different. Look no further than 'The Lot Behind St. Mary's', another easy favourite of mine as McKenna reflects on the places that meant so much to her growing up, but as things change and teenage dreams get buried, she now has grown to resent those places for not meaning as much as they did back then, all summed up by this gorgeous line: 'I'm sure the dreamer who built the first trapeze / fell in love with someone who grew to resent the God damn thing'.
And I could go on about how McKenna is a master in terms of crafting lyrical cadence perhaps mostly evident on 'The Fixer', 'People Get Old' and 'The Lot Behind St. Mary's', or how 'Like Patsy Would' is such a potent way to end the album as McKenna reflects and remembers a key figure in her life and vows to keep her in her head whatever challenges she faces in her life, but this review has probably gone on long enough.
In short, the album is stunning, well deserving of all the critical acclaim, and proves once again that Lori McKenna and Dave Cobb are a force to be reckoned with in country and folk. It's a 4.5 / 5 and the highest recommendation. Even if your not familiar with any of the names attached to this project, even if you have had no interest in either traditional country or folk, listen to this album and give it the thought that it deserves. You will most certainly not regret it.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Best Songs: 'You Won't Even Know I'm Gone', 'The Lot Behind St. Mary's', 'Like Patsy Would', 'People Get Old', 'Young And Angry Again'
Worst Songs: 'Happy People'
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