My Girl The River are the perfect example of Americana that is also UK – fronted by the now UK based Louisiana native Kris Wilkinson on vocals and acoustic guitar the band consists of her partner and bassist Joe Hughes with contributions from their daughter Rue. Some bands come and go, others stay the course – and we’ve had the opportunity at Americana UK to feature My Girl The River for several years now – through album and live reviews, featured tracks and even a Covid pandemic mini-concert – and today’s premiere is another such opportunity. ‘Solitaire‘ is a new old song, as Kris explained “I had this up on Soundcloud, however, with a new album in the works featuring a collection of new and old songs, this one jumped to the top of the list. My teenager and My Girl The River band member, Rue, did a beautiful job on the cover art, and I had it mastered at Abbey Road Studios.”
The song addresses, from the opening lines, the dangers of addiction as Kris sings “I hate to say it again – the bottle is not your friend.” No – as things fall apart, behaviours become bad and loved ones are driven away all this “friend” offers is assistance to “forget, and it wants you to forget / and it wants you to forget the consequences.”
Alcohol addiction was not a random song theme, it’s a topic that is close to home as she explained “I have addiction close to me, in my family, my own tendencies keep me on guard.” ‘Solitaire‘ is a song that starts low key and builds and builds – throws in a false ending and then builds again. Other than vocals there are only guitars on the song, with frequent collaborator, Will Kimbrough responsible for layers of electric guitar.
