CARA CORMIER: Mennonite Gone Bad

Cara Cormier is a country singer in the mold of Buck Owens and Roger Miller. Okay, I know Roger and Buck are songsters and Cormier is a songstress, but stay with me, and you’ll get my point.

Roger and Buck knew that three chords and the truth could be sung with a smile. Even if the ultimate subject of a song was about someone who was “sad and lonely,” there could be a bright side as the protagonist ultimately becomes a big star in the movies. Miller’s biggest hit, a song about a hobo who doesn’t have two dimes to rub together, is still lackadaisical and carefree. The singer rules an impoverished domain; he is nonetheless a king.

With her new CD, Mennonite Gone Bad Cormier proves that her songs can be similarly wry and idiosyncratic. She weaves a story around clown porn. (I had never heard of such a thing, and I will remain in the dark as I’m too afraid to google it.) And there is a similarly quirky tune involving camels. (Please don’t make me explain. You’ll just have to listen to it on your own.) She also figured out the only way the great Italian poet Dante could have found the inspiration for his depiction of all nine circles of hell would be if he had had a career in food service.

There are serious songs, too. Cormier shares a couple songs about cherishing her independence, as well as the emotions one faces when confronted with another’s drive to leave the familiar for other horizons. In true country music fashion, her lyrics give the listener a great deal of detail: the country lanes, playground swings, a car’s wiper blades.

Cormier found some top-notch musicians for her recording effort. She brought in Rick Nash on bass and Josh Hersmeier on drums. On guitar is Josh Taylor; Josh Weinstein played keyboards; Melissa Dow contributed on fiddle. Jeff Berkley played guitar and tied it all together, producing the CD and pushing all the right buttons and turning all the right knobs as the recording engineer.

This CD is certainly a stocking stuffer and will just as certainly please Cormier’s many fans. I’d also like to thank her for letting us know what happened to the devil after Johnnie and his fiddle kicked his ass.