Inspiring and redemptive themes sung and played with a distinctive country flavour.
They say the best things come in small packages and ‘Baptized By The Blaze’ is a case in point. With her new release India Ramey has packed eleven self-penned songs into a mere 30 minutes, all of them terrific. It’s a reminder that a good song doesn’t have to be a long one – well before the 6 minutes of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ there was ‘The Letter’ by The Boxtops that ran under 2 minutes, not to forget the fourteen songs that made up the mere 35 minutes of The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’.
A gifted lyricist with a fabulous country voice, Ramey is accompanied by some ace musicians – Seth Taylor and James Mitchell on acoustic and electric guitar, Scotty Sanders on pedal steel, Alison Prestwood on bass and Tommy Hardin on drums. Several of their contributions were laid down in a single day, further evidence that there is no need to observe Parkinson’s Law to make a good record.
With producer Luke Wooten at the desk, each track is full of wit and wry observation. There’s a cast of mean hombres and patronising creeps, figures all too familiar to Ramey. Having witnessed an abusive relationship in her own childhood, she went on to become a prosecutor in domestic violence cases, till around 2009 she left the law and turned her attention to music. Several independent releases preceded her breakthrough in 2017 with ‘Snake Handler’ and the successful 2020 album ‘Shallow Graves’.
At the same time, however, her long-running battle with PTSD and panic-attacks had led to an addiction to a tranquilising drug. Through self-help, rehab and a trauma therapist, she came to write the songs that make up ‘Baptized By The Blaze’. As she describes it, “This is my empowerment album”.
Kicking off with a rollicking country stomp, ‘Ain’t My First Rodeo’ launches the album with a retro-sounding twang and a thumping bass over which Ramey’s insistent vocal cuts through. It’s a put-down of an unsavoury lothario, one of the themes of the record. The title-track follows, describing a triumphal renaissance from a past life. With the image of a phoenix rising, she expresses hope:
“I am born of the flames
My sapphire eyes see through the haze
I live to fight another day
Oh I’ve been baptized by the blaze”.
A couple more bad guys follow; ‘Silverado’ has echoes of Brad Pitt’s character in ‘Thelma and Louise’, an amorous motel room encounter followed by a theft, while ‘Piece of My Mind’ is a rebuttal that draws on Ramey’s dealings with a corporate type who expressed doubts over her authenticity. ‘She Ain’t Never Coming Home’ is a dark tale of a missing daughter then right in the centre of the album comes ‘The Mountain’, a standout track expressing the strength and resilience that Ramey has found. ‘Down For The Count’ features sharp lyrics and impressive guitar work before the retro-sounding ballad ‘It Could Have Been Me’. A woman chances on a wedding photo in the paper, her former lover marrying some hapless female, with the title clearly ironic as she ponders her lucky escape.
‘Never Going Back’ is full of gritty resolution and spaghetti-western guitar while in ‘Rotten’ Ramey turns her attention to the plight of a country plummeting to new lows in public life: “We’ve put our moral compass Up for auction”. Finally, ‘Go On Git’ is a thumbs-in-jean-pockets kind of hoe-down, a 12-bar romp with some great country guitar-picking and a female chorus that tells yet another loser to take his leave.
The album certainly demonstrates Ramey’s determination to get the better of her demons and there’s much to inspire others here. As she says, “I wanted to empower people to be their strong, authentic selves. That’s what ‘Baptized By The Blaze’ did for me”.
