Ohio native Megan Bee’s fifth album is a graceful collection of folk songs that balance mature reflection with vivid natural imagery and collaborative spirit.
Blessed with a voice that could threaten to warm even a cold Presidential heart, Ohio native Megan Bee (described in her web bio as an “environmental educator and seasoned vagabond” – whatever that means) has returned with her fifth album. A natural collaborator, Bee brings in several local musicians here, just as she hosts creative writing retreats when not on tour. The album feels like the product of ideas lived with, stretched, and reshaped over time, ultimately distilled into ten songs about “slowing down, softness, and enjoying the sweetness of life.”
Bee;s songs carry inventive vocal melodies and hooks laced with hints of Appalachian and traditional folk, giving the record a timeless feel. Imagine a mellow collaboration between Emmylou Harris and The Band, but with a gentler, less rustic edge. What might sound twee on paper – songs about quilts, anyone? – instead, become mature and wise, thoughtful reflections on shifting human emotions. The opening track looks to the arrival of spring, a hopeful rebirth that resonates now in the turn to autumn, with its colder mornings and clear skies. The arrangements are minimal and tasteful, never overdone, but never dull.
Bee grounds her writing in the real world: in losing lovers and friends, in glimpses of hope in the everyday, in dreams of something larger. Cello, fiddle, pedal steel, and Wurlitzer bring colour to her songs, enhancing the earthy imagery. References to harvests, rivers, moons and great pine trees root the album firmly in Ohio’s great outdoors. Most tracks run under three minutes, but one standout, ‘Part of the Mystery’, lingers long after it ends. Ostensibly about losing a friend to suicide, it finds hope in memory, nature, and love: “Was it a chance encounter, or did the stars have to align, or was there always a thread connecting your heart and mine?” The song circles the eternal question — is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? The choral outro, with pedal steel and backing singers collaborating in turn, is especially comforting.
This is a gorgeous album, understated yet resonant, that deserves a far wider audience.
