Heather Little – By Now
Heather Little’s new album By Now is stunning. It’s beautiful and chilling every word and step of the way, and there’s an incredible depth to the songwriting. For more validation, she is surrounded with folks that make this album also feel like a new super group of the real songwriters in this country is afoot – Patty Griffin, and songwriters who’ve written hits for the top tier. But the songwriting is incredible profound, and Heather’s vocals are as real as they come.
“Five Deer County” is a complex story of living with someone and eyeing the steep pathway out. She was “strangling that boy with my apron strings…. choking that boy with my apron strings.” “I spend the night up rolling change… I could bring him back, but I’d rather give him back his name, and give him all he’s ever dreamed, a five deer county and an old air stream. And there’s more: “I’ve been the girl in the truck, I’ve been the wife on the farm … he’s the king of the hills….” The banjo and electric guitar tones here are to die for. Rusty Van Sickle A perfect Americana song.
“Hands Like Mine” is absolutely beautiful and the addition of Patty Griffin harmonizing is utterly enchanting. A touch of accordion “I tried one on. It was a strange kind of heavy, sharp around the edges… those were my white knuckles on the wheel… it should have been a sign, they don’t make rings for hands like mine.” Another perfect, and now you’re waiting for the next one.
Next up is “Razor Wire” featuring Leslie Satcher. Leslie has written songs for George Strait and Martina McBride. “When the sun fails, you light your lanterns, let ’em burn the whole night through… I’ll be looking for you too… I will spend my dying breath calling out your name.”
“Better By Now” features Ronnie Bowman in the dark song about being in a relationship with little chance of escape: “your knife is dirty and your plans are cruel… I burned out the clutch in the Cavalier, drove all the way home in second gear.. liked to have killed myself tryin’ to disappear … I ought to be better by now, but I got mixed up with you somehow.” Chilling. Absolutely chilling. The album title comes from this one, so listen closely. (Ronnie Bowman for the record has written hits for Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn.)
In “Transistor Radio” we find lines like “Seventeen ain’t what is was when my granddad was a boy and he lied about his age so they’d let him fight the war, and then my brother took his turn and they just thanked him for his service and pumped him full of pills.” “I’m an analogue trespassing through their digital ages… I like needles on my gauges.” The right touches of pedal steel and baritone sounding guitar and brushes on the drums hit the sweet spot. “Saint Christopher” features harmonies by Crystal Bowersox and is a hazy, hot summer’s day observation of betrayals on “it’s all perfect in the dark… you can’t hide in the light… I tried to take a sinner for a saint.”
“Gunpowder & Lead,” yes that song, was co-written by Heather and Miranda Lambert. Heather’s version is raw and a bit darker, and with low fiddle and an added verse that was written just hours too late to make it into Miranda’s recording. It’s fabulous. A must hear. Just like all the others.
Who is this masked woman Heather Little, who co-wrote “Gunpowder & Lead” with Miranda Lambert and can now pick up the phone and have Patty Griffin and Van Plating recording on her songs plus other killer songwriters guesting left and right? Clearly there’s a lot more history here, and we’re all just patiently waiting for the backstory. Meanwhile, press play on what is guaranteed to be your favorite album of the year.
Albums like this make me remember why I started covering music in the first place. The songwriting is every bit as fantastic as Lori McKenna’s, the stories are palpable and true; your heart will swell and your eyes will tear up all the way through. And for some reason Heather Little has been writing in obscurity in Texas? But this will surely change all that. Heather Little is bustin’ out.
Musicians on the album are Heather Little on vocals and acoustic guitar; Frank Swart on electric guitars, bass VI, bass, mandolin, and piano; Audley Freed, Duke Levine, and Kevin Barry on electric and acoustic guitars; Jared Tyler on electric guitar; John Jackson on electric guitar; Russ Pahl on pedal steel; Paul Griffith on drums and percussion; Scott Amendola on drums; John Deaderick on piano and organ; Stefano Intelisano on accordion; Niamh Varian-Barry on viola; Eamon McLoughlin on fiddle and mandolin, Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass; Joe Newberry on banjo; Mai Bloomfield on cello; Van Plating on vocals and violin; Bow Thayer on bojotar; and Kami Lyle on trumpet. Guest vocals are by Patty griffin, Leslie Satcher, Ronnie Bowman, Rusty Van Sickle, Crystal Bowersox and Van Plating.
Find more details here: http://www.HeatherLittleMusic.com
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Song Premiere: Heather Little “Gunpowder & Lead” feat. Van Plating
By Now was produced by Brian Brinkerhoff and Frank Swart; recorded at Skunkworks Studio in Capitola, California; engineered by Brian Brinkerhoff; mixed by Scott Halliday in Dublin, Ireland; and
mastered by Justin Weis at Trakworx in South San Francisco.