LAURIE LEWIS: Trees

Laurie Lewis has flown under the radar in the mainstream folk circuit for many a decade, but to those who know her music and voice, well, she’s an icon amid country/folk/bluegrass aficionados. Her 24th album, Trees is testament to that.

The 12-track offering, combining original tunes and covers, features Lewis on guitar and lead vocals, Hasee Ciaccio on bass, Brandon Godman on fiddle, Patrick Sauber on banjo, and George Guthrie on guitar and banjo. The self-produced project is beautifully recorded and mixed.

The opening track, “Just a Little Ways Down the Road,” strikes an immediate theme of Lewis’ compositions, a close bond with nature and its need for preservation. “Now every time I get the blues, I put on my walkin’ shoes,” set to a lively tempo, augmented by guest Andrew Marlin’s percussive mandolin rhythm and solo.

The ballad “Enough” raises concerns about the ongoing climate crisis. “I’ve had enough fire, I’ve had enough rain…Lord I’m so tired of all this pain,” embellished by guest Sam Reider’s weeping accordion phrases, followed by “Texas Wind,” with uplifting love metaphors throughout. “Will the Texas wind, send you home to me again,” fueled by Godman’s flawless fiddle licks.

“Why’d You Have to Break My Heart” speaks to the despair upon hearing of singer/songwriter John Prine’s passing. “When I first heard your songs, I recall that they blew my mind,” set poetically against a simple guitar backdrop.

The title track, “Trees,” will give you goosebumps throughout the three-minute acapella (without instrumental accompaniment) with Lewis and a full male vocal harmony chorus from her band delivering prophetic warnings. “We stand waiting at the edge of your feet…you are but the shadow of a cloud across the land, here a moment then you’re gone again…and we will sprout from your foundation and break the bounds between your nation…though you build your monuments, they will not stand.”

Lewis mixes in a diverse mixture of cover tunes, including a neatly arranged upbeat version of Bill Morrissey’s “Long Gone,” spotlighting torrid solos from Godman’s fiddle and Sauber’s banjo, in addition to the band tearing it up on the honky-tonk blues classic, “Down on the Levee,” in contrast to the minor-keyed ballad, “The Day Is Mine,” highlighted by mellifluous vocal harmony arrangements.

The closing track, “Rock the Pain Away,” suggests the symbolism of the album’s title as Lewis’ tender lyrics humanizes the survival of trees amid all of nature’s unpredictable wrath, with studio guitar ace Nina Gerber sitting in on lead guitar phrases. “Let me hold you for a while, enfold you in my arms like a child, and if you could let go, and if you would let me…you know that I would try to rock the pain away,” the perfect coda to an eclectic project of eloquently flowing lyrical ballads and downhome foot stomping grooves backed by a top flight cast of musicians supporting Lewis’ alluring voice and muse at every turn.