A strong debut album with a range of folk-based songs with lyrical depth and style.
This is the first full-length album from Ohio-based Midwestern Mrs, better known as Georgia Evans to her family, following a string of highly regarded tracks and an EP, three of which have come to the attention of and been covered in some detail on Americana UK before. These tracks have been released over the last 5 years, during which time she has also been generating the material that goes into this album. Only one track is repeated: Stay Afloat, which is a song that won a songwriting award from the Bluebird Café in Nashville.
Predominantly, her songs tap into various folk styles, with vocals that range from earthy and soulful to a pure higher register, accompanying herself on finger-picked guitar. The album is beautifully arranged, with enhancements of violin, also played by Georgia, and touches of guitar, pedal steel, organ, bass, and drums as the song requires, from a range of sympathetic musicians, with much of the heavy lifting provided by Jeff Butcher. There are two full-band tracks which bring 50’s-style dance music and rockabilly train beats to her songs very effectively, demonstrating the range of her influences.
The folk-based tracks are in a variety of styles. Stay Afloat is a beautifully nuanced tale of families and children that touches delicately on the routine monotony and occasional feelings of futility associated with caring for and carrying a family as the primary caregiver. Relieved only by the occasional outpourings of love from the children, the song subtly explicates the mental health challenges of the role in a way that few, if any, songwriters have tried. This song is partnered by Wishes, a precise and equally nuanced breakdown of the challenges a husband and wife face in carving out space for themselves whilst dealing with careers and lifestyle aspirations, and the minutiae of family life, chores, and putting the kids first.
“Cause more often than not we’re passing/ Ships in the night trading shores/ I’ll take the kids to practice, you go get the groceries/ and maybe when they’re sleeping we’ll lock the door.”
With the strength of these songs and perhaps the name she records under, it would be easy and lazy to see Midwestern Mrs as cataloguing domestic ennui, but she is so much more. Angel’s Goodbye is a modern setting for a chilling gothic folk murder ballad, where Barbary Allen is a traditional English-style folk tragedy; both beautifully poised and sung. Then again, El Dorado is a song of greed and betrayal with supernatural overtones that lyrically and in its arrangement bring Josh Ritter strongly to mind.
Make Believe is another relationship song; here, the female partner is in a dependent, one-sided relationship where her partner “…don’t even love me enough to save me by walking away.” She loves him and cannot leave, but knows he will never love her or leave her. This is sung over a slow, almost Roy Orbison-style acoustic rock’n’roll ballad backing.
With some of the challenging lyrical topics, it is perhaps good she is able to demonstrate a sense of humour. Led by Don’t come back knocking on the door of my heart (cause no one will be home), which is a country hoedown about a cheating husband with the deathless payoff line “So I’ll leave you with the truth/ Though it’s gonna make you mad/ But I ain’t lying anymore Babe/ You ain’t the best I ever had.” Off Brand Heaven is a tale of a heaven dominated by low-key modern irritations; warm beer, late arrivals due to traffic and an eternity working in the service industry, set over a rockabilly train rhythm. The song ends with the line “lacks that sulphur smell, might as well be hell.”
This is an assured debut album, with well-crafted folk-based songs with lyrical depth and complexity across a range of topics and styles. The playing is subtle and in keeping with the song, and the singing strong and nuanced. The stylistic eclecticism could be criticised as not developing her own style, perhaps being more of a sum of her influences; however, done this well, it is a strength, demonstrating the range of her writing.
