Colleen Mari’s “Ledges”: Acknowledging a Mad River Valley “Songbird”
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
You can’t swing a dead cat(amount) in the Mad River Valley without hitting a talented musician.
And whenever one of our own releases a new CD, that’s cause for celebration.
Especially if we’re talking about Colleen Mari.
My guess is that you’ve heard Colleen before. She co-fronts (along with Liz Levy) the enormously popular MRV-based Big Basin Band, a blues/dance combo out of the wilds of Fayston that has been getting us locals to shake our groove thing for several years now.
Hearing Colleen perform solo on “Ledges” is a different kind of treat. Her ever-expressive voice is front-and-center on this four-song project, a mini-CD of sorts that showcases her remarkable abilities as a songstress. Reared on everything from her mom’s piano music, to church singing, to years performing in the Vermont Symphony Choir, Mari has a real sense of interpretive timing, and it really shines through in this project.
Her new CD kicks off with a tune called “What Ya Do To Me,” a Mari original. Wafting over the sound of an electric guitar comes harp virtuoso Johnny Reid’s harmonica, and then Mari’s ethereal voice, which quickly turns sultry. Mari possesses this really nifty gift – being able to change vocal horses in midstream, and the first cut shows off this ability quite nicely.
Track #2 of “Ledges” is a cover of the classic Fleetwood Mac tune “Songbird,” and I’ll be durned if Mari doesn’t perform it better than the original authors (blasphemy, I know, but there, I said it) – a sort of high, wide, and lonesome sound, backed once again by Reid’s fine harmonica work.
The third tune, “Change Her Mind,” is a mid-tempo rocker, Mari singing it straight ahead with just a bit of sass, backed by Reid and some fine electric guitar work.
The finale (I know, at four songs, I wanted so much more), a tune called “Fly,” does what the first song does– puts Mari’s incredible voice through its paces, from plaintive to edgy to full-on roar. Here, she really lets her hair down vocally, and the listener is all the better for it.
In the liner notes for “Ledges”, Mari pays tribute to a wide variety of musical influences: Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Joss Stone, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Christy Mcvie, Stevie Nicks, Maria Muldaur, Norah Jones, Susan Tedeschi, Billie Holiday, Willie Nelson,Tina Turner, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Merle Haggard, John Prine, Johnny Cash and June Carter, and many, many more.
I think they’d all be pleased with Mari’s “Ledges” solo effort, and, like me, they’d probably have only one request.
Encore! More!
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