Stoll Vaughan – Dream In Color
This is Stoll’s 5th album & it’s a self-produced 8-cut with a very calm James Taylor-type tonality that is easy on the ears, relaxing & everything is interesting. Right from the start with “Just Another Day,” Stoll narrates a lovely descriptive story more in the tradition of John Prine than Taylor.
Cooked up in Lexington, Kentucky the tunes take a page from the John Mellencamp menu. Yet, Vaughan (vocals/acoustic guitar) seems to successfully pull from his musical egg yolk of fine down-home songs with character in each note.
Stoll has varied hues in his CD Dream In Color (Commonwealth Artist/Drops Feb. 23/33:00). Each seems written with the lyrical care of Leonard Cohen. He labored over every word to make each tune relatable meaningful, & poignant. The words are like from a family’s scrapbook, diary, or letters. There are songs of transition, about leaving L.A. to move to a calmer life in Kentucky with a new child. How the stars aligned for Voll after becoming a father. He watched things come into focus, more in color than monochrome. Sometimes it takes time to realize that this is the change one needs.
In the “Thick of It,” Stoll sings in a phrasing manner of early Bob Dylan but it’s not an imitation since Stoll remains solidly in his voice. The song sounds like something Bob should’ve done but didn’t. Maybe because Bob never lived the experiences Stoll did, or just never realized he had a cache of songs to tap into.
Many songs are standard well-written ballads. Stoll does open the valve a little on the marvelous “Farmer’s Almanac,” with a harmonica in a foot-stomping upbeat piece that’s quite danceable. It has a feel of Townes van Zandt, John Prine, Guy Clark & John Hiatt all wrapped up into one tune.
While Stoll’s vocals are fairly an everyman’s tone he does exude an abundance of sincerity, pastel charm & appeal with his style. His voice “fits” his lyrics & melodies. They work together. He never tries for the ceiling with his range & just sings it straight with a warmth that’s rare to many professional singers who rely on showmanship.
“Dream In Color,” is solid & conveys lots of personality in an enriched showcase. I like this stuff…I could listen for hours to this fellow sing. “Brother James,” starts with a more mature tone. Sounds like an older Stoll. This is country folk of quality reinforced by a natural talent for melody & storytelling. He has a rich songbook — singers who don’t write their own should investigate Stoll’s songbook wealth.
Highlights- “Just Another Day,” “Thick of It,” “Farmer’s Almanac,” “Dream In Color,” “Brother James” & “1883.”
Musicians – Duane Betts (guitar), Johnny Stachela (guitar/slide guitar), John Ginty (keyboards), Dane Clark (drums) & Mike Grosser (bass).
Color image courtesy of Effie Dozier. CD @ https://www.stollvaughan.com/#home-2-section
Song premiere: https://americanahighways.org/2024/01/17/song-premiere-stoll-vaughan-farmers-almanac/