Formats
WW3 - CD
641444164622
Details
It has been said that no person can step into the same river twice. Rio en Medio’s Danielle Stech-Homsy delivers a similar experience with her new album of inspired folk music, some covers, some originals. Shifting waters graze the shore, mesmerizing ripples evoke a myriad of images and sentiments, depending on what time of day it is or season of the year. Language itself turns fluid, as Stech-Homsy sings in English, French, Welsh and so on. Stech-Homsy’s approach is organic, with spartan baritone ukulele, guitar, cosmic keyboards and harmonizing vocals forming the backbone of the songs. Here and there a friend drops in to play along—in this case, Terry Cox, original member of the 1960s folk-baroque band Pentangle (and contributing drummer for David Bowie, The Bee Gees) lends his nuanced approach on drums, while Dave Roe (Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three) chimes in merrily on bass to fill the speakers at just the right moments. Nathan Shineywater (Library of Sands, BrightBlack Morning Light) contributes lead guitar and percussion in highlighted places. Harmonica is played by George Flynn, a 90+ year-old veteran and former chauffeur for Hank Williams. With Rio en Medio Radio, Stech-Homsy explores connection between nature, literature, traditional folk music and pure flights of fancy. Delicate vocal lines and harmonies form an unusually strong thread, carrying the music along its watery way. The album convincingly weaves a path through time, picking up voices from the near and distant past and igniting meaning with subtle instrumentation. For the song “Terrapin Karma,” 12th Century troubadour poetry opens a traveller’s diary. Its meandering lyric is met by earthbound lines from Thoreau’s “Walden” and it somehow all makes sense. In the song “The Fox & The Little Prince” Stech-Homsy explores song creation inspired by a meeting of creatures in the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.”Darlin’ Corey” sprites Flynn’s harmonica Americana while an old Martin guitar and Stech-Homsy’s dynamic storytelling takes the radio a pilgrim’s way to old American song, while “Y Deryn Du,” a Welsh folk ode