![\"Love](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1057\/2013\/05\/love-has-come-for-you-album-cover.jpg\")
<\/a>In past editions of \u201cRecently Added,\u201d I\u2019ve featured artists, genres, or themes. Today, I\u2019m sharing a whole album! Consider this a CD review in addition to a \u201crecently added\u201d installment.\nUp until fairly recently, I knew Steve Martin only as a great comedian. But when I discovered the music of Paul Simon, I discovered that not only was Steve Martin a friend of Paul\u2019s, he was actually a highly regarded musician in his own right. His instrument of choice? The banjo. Who under 50 would have guessed?
\nWhen I saw that Steve was writing and recording a new project with Paul\u2019s wife, singer\/songwriter Edie Brickell, I was very interested. After it came out, I immediately found that the record company had posted the whole thing on Youtube the other day.
\nIt\u2019s very rare for me to sit in one place and listen to an entire album all the way through. But for this one, I did. The music flowed together from one song to the next, almost as if it was all recorded in one sitting. It\u2019s been a while since I heard such a cohesive project. And it\u2019s been a while since I encountered an album that satisfied me on so many different levels.
\nIt caught my attention from the first line\u2014disarming, quirky, and wistful all at once: \u201cWhen you get to Asheville, send me an e-mail.\u201d Did she just say send me an e-mail<\/em>? Yes she did, very simply and sweetly too. Before going further, I should pause here to praise the unpretentious warmth and richness of Edie Brickell\u2019s voice. It has some of the qualities I appreciate about Amy Grant\u2019s voice, but with a heavier country accent. Some feel that her understated style holds the project back from being all it could be, but she hits exactly the right tone for me. On this opening track, she immediately sets to work quietly breaking your heart. We meet a character who doesn\u2019t demand our pity but graciously lets us share her pain, as she writes a tender letter to an ungrateful ex-husband. She reports the latest news about the dog, asks him if he\u2019s found a new job\u2026 and leaves him with this simple chorus of proffered redemption:
\nOoh, if it don\u2019t work out<\/em>
\nOoh, if it don\u2019t work out<\/em>
\nOoh, you can turn around<\/em>
\nAnd come on back to me<\/em>
\nYou can come on home to me<\/em>
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4RzhTN9zW3w?rel=0&w=560&h=315<\/a>\nMuch like her husband, Brickell has mastered the art of conversational lyricism\u2014the art of putting words in someone\u2019s mouth that feel natural, almost casual, yet poetic at the same time. She also touches on a wide range of emotions throughout this project. Some tracks are sad, others are humorous, others eerie but compelling. Each one tells a story. Sometimes it\u2019s a ghost story (the English folk-tinged \u201cKing of Boys\u201d), a tragedy (the upbeat but bleak \u201cYes, She Did\u201d), a comedy (\u201cWho You Gonna Take\u201d), a slice of Southern life (\u201cGet Along Stray Dog\u201d), or an honest parting of the curtain to a soul in need of love (\u201cRemember Me This Way\u201d).
\nBy the first few bars of track two, I was also keenly aware of Steve Martin\u2019s deft touch on the banjo. His playing is joyful and tasteful, rich and melodious without showing off. And he writes some fine bluegrass tunes. In fact, he wrote all the music you will hear on this album. I should also mention that he has a star-studded backup in the form of guest musicians like Esperanza Spalding, Waddy Wachtel, Nickel Creek alumni Sara and Sean Watkins, and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Sara Watkins and Rangers alumnus Nicky Sanders each contribute zesty fiddle to tracks like \u201cGet Along Stray Dog,\u201d \u201cWho You Gonna Take?\u201d and \u201cSarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby.\u201d
\nHowever, I should note that while I found almost every track to be worthwhile, there was one in particular that I just couldn\u2019t embrace. That\u2019s the honeyed minor-key \u201cFighter,\u201d which is\u2026 well, just think \u201c50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,\u201d bluegrass lullaby version, and you\u2019ll have a pretty good idea of why this one\u2019s no good. If, like me, you decide to give this album the stem to stern listen<\/a>, I highly recommend skipping over this one. Also, the clever \u201cSiamese Cat\u201d is meant to be comical, but as you listen it becomes apparent that it\u2019s told from the perspective of a woman dating a man with children (a daughter, in this case). Essentially, \u201cI like your cat, I like your cowboy hat, but your daughter\u2019s a real piece of work.\u201d In our casual divorce culture, even a light piece like this should give us pause. And perhaps it\u2019s especially the light songs and comedies that should give us pause, because they show how normal and run-of-the-mill such situations have become in our society. As Christians, we should keep a sober awareness that such things are not normal, but tragic, even if we can accept a healing through re-marriage in certain cases.
\nOn the flip side, two songs that celebrate life are very uplifting, if serious in subject matter. The title track, \u201cLove Has Come For You,\u201d presents a sad story of a girl who\u2019s become romantically involved with a married man (details are left sketchy as to whether it was seduction or a fully compliant affair) but decides to keep the baby. Others press her to give the child away (which considering contemporary alternatives is relatively good advice), but she opts to raise him herself. The boy grows up to bless her, and the repeated refrain \u201cLove has come for you\u201d takes on redemptive, deeply layered meaning as the song progresses. It\u2019s ironic that somebody like Richard Mourdock took heat for suggesting that God could bring good out of sexual sin, even provide a blessing in the form of a child\u2014yet here\u2019s a secular song recognizing exactly such a thing:
\n
[gigya src=\"http:\/\/swf.tubechop.com\/tubechop.swf\" flashvars=\"vurl=sPof9W1bdFg&start=13&end=197&cid=1161889\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"500\" height=\"315\" ]<\/code>
\nThe exuberant \u201cSarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby\u201d is another song about the blessing of children, this time spinning a yarn about a foundling thrown off a train in a suitcase. The woman who becomes a mother to the boy made me think of the lady in C. S. Lewis\u2019s\u00a0The Great Divorce<\/em>, also named Sarah, for whom every boy was a son and every girl a daughter.
\nI mentioned \u201cRemember Me This Way,\u201d the closing track. This one is just as heart-breaking as the first track, perhaps even more so. A woman is asking a painter to paint her \u201cportrait\u201d \u2014 herself and her life story the way she has always dreamed it would be. It\u2019s impossible not to get a lump in the throat as Brickell\u2019s voice notably breaks on this line: \u201cDon\u2019t forget my dear companion. Put someone who loves me by my side.\u201d Perhaps the saddest and most profound are these few lines:
\nMake it a work of art<\/em>
\nA real sight to see<\/em>
\nMake it a work of art<\/em>
\nA real masterpiece<\/em>
\nHow subtle and beautiful this message is\u2014if only the woman in the story could see that she<\/em> is the work of art. She is already God\u2019s masterpiece. Some of you might have seen Dove\u2019s \u201cReal Beauty\u201d campaign on Youtube. This song reminded me strongly of it, and you should check out the short video here<\/a> if you haven\u2019t already.
\nWith the caveats I already outlined, I can\u2019t recommend this album highly enough for those mature enough to appreciate it. Not only is it a well-crafted piece of music, it\u2019s a thoughtful collection of lyrics. Here\u2019s a little promo vid where Steve and Edie talk about the creative process, together with producer Peter Asher. I\u2019m so jealous of Edie when I hear her talk about how the stories just \u201ccame\u201d out of Steve\u2019s banjo melodies. Humph. Wish all my lyrics just \u201ccame\u201d out like that. (Oh, almost forgot to mention\u2014an uncooperative collar elicits a \u201cdamn\u201d from someone during the photo shoot, so if that would really bug you\u2026)
\n[gigya src=\"http:\/\/swf.tubechop.com\/tubechop.swf\" flashvars=\"vurl=dYbVTncjH-w&start=0&end=260&cid=1161654\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"500\" height=\"315\" ]<\/code>
\nAnd as a bonus, here\u2019s an old video of Edie with hubbie Paul and oh look, Willie Nelson on backup!
\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ugLpqKNiVGs?rel=0&w=500&h=315<\/a>\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In past editions of \u201cRecently Added,\u201d I\u2019ve featured artists, genres, or themes. Today, I\u2019m sharing a whole album! Consider this a CD review in addition to a \u201crecently added\u201d installment. Up until fairly recently, I knew Steve Martin only as a great comedian. But when I discovered the music of Paul Simon, I discovered that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,61,64],"tags":[430],"class_list":["post-12806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd-reviews","category-recently-added","category-songs","tag-music-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n
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