Tipps and Obermiller – MacGuffin
This is a brightly recorded album with some folky pop elements ala Lowen & Navarro. The songs have a balanced contrast between gender vocals keeping it interesting throughout. But what I found most attractive is Hilary Tipps’s lead vocal with its clarity & depth like the best female folk singers of the past from Joan Baez & Mimi Farina to Sandy Denny with the added benefit of the bluesy vocal heights of Karen Lawrence.
This 2nd collaboration is between husband (Steve Obermiller) & wife on the 10 road-tested songs of MacGuffin (Drops April 12/Independent/40:00) recorded in Fort Worth, Texas & produced by Nick Tittle (organ/ glockenspiel/percussion). Many of the melodies are pristine & the tales are lyrically well-attired. Vocal personality & power is displayed generously in the relatively poppy tunes.
The song topics range heavily between doubt, pain, fear, acceptance, love & growth — which is dominant in most of our lives. The harmonies aren’t as creative as the Mamas & the Papas, who had a wider vocal color with 4 members & the vocals are not as finely calibrated as Richard & Mimi Farina — but the overall sound of Tipps and Obermiller is rich with virtuosity, validity & is seldom immersed in commerciality. Hilary’s vocal while folky has that suggestive bluesy quality that seeps through (“Favorite”) generously & excellently.
The producers should eliminate the echo treatment on Hilary’s voice (on many songs) because she doesn’t need it. Her voice is pure & comes through honestly with no effects required. She has ambiance & spatial tonality. Leave the tweaking on zero. The wonderful “Walt Whitman,” suffers because of this effect. The song itself would sound better if it were more rural & vintage. Hilary’s voice has these qualities. Allow it to come through with the expressive acoustic guitars.
Nice chiming strings open “Middle Age Prodigy,” & with this unified vocalizing sound assertive. Hilary has a sweet Fleetwood Mac precision. A delicate Bekka Bramlett vocal tinge, not quite as rural as her mother Bonnie’s but overall, this particular song has a wonderful country drive reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s Time album (1995).
The CD is captivating. The original songs & vocalizing are all good. “Welcome To The Choir,” even features Hilary’s more spiritually gospel-tinted vocals that are awesome.
Highlights – “All I Need,” “Fort Worth,” “Favorite,” “Middle Age Prodigy,” “We Went To Work,” “Walt Whitman” & “Welcome To the Choir.”
Musicians – Hilary (guitar/vocals), Steve (guitar/vocals), Aden Bubeck (bass), Trey Ware (drums), Clay Parker (piano), McGuffin Choir (Theo Carracino, Ed Rogers, Megan South, Andrew Tipps, Laurie ward, David Whiney, Hilary & Steve) with choir arrangements by Melinda Allen Wood.
Color image courtesy of their website. CD @ Bandcamp & https://www.tippsandobermiller.com/
Song premiere: https://americanahighways.org/2024/01/23/song-premiere-tipps-and-obermiller-fort-worth/