Bella White – Five For Silver
Neil Young canceling his tour due to health reasons is this summer’s biggest musical bummer. Fortunately, another Canadian singer-songwriter stepped up to help fill the void. Fresh off her last year’s excellent Among Other Things, Bella White is paying homage to some of country and Americana’s finest songwriters (including Neil Young). Her new EP, Five for Silver, came out of the Among Other Things sessions and features five of White’s favorite songs, sung in her inimitable, seemingly century-old voice.
White first released her take on Young’s “Unknown Legend” last fall and debuted it at AmericanaFest. In addition to White’s gorgeously sad vocals, the cover is notable for producer Jonathan Wilson’s B-Bender guitar part, echoing Ben Keith’s pedal steel on the original. White also honors Young by not changing the gender of the song’s protagonist. This is a woman we’ve wanted to know more about since Young’s 1992 original, and White keeps that Legend (and her mystery) alive.
Five for Silver brings along most of the players from Among Other Things, including Big Thief’s Buck Meek on guitar, Patrick M’Gonigle on some “so-just-right-it’s-almost-not-there” violin on Lucinda Williams’ “Concrete and Barbed Wire,” and Drew Erickson’s oh-so-aching organ on Ted Lucas’ “I’ll Find a Way (To Carry It All).” Erin Rae also returns to provide a range of backing vocals, including subbing in for Steve Earle on the Lucinda tune. But it’s White’s voice that brings this gorgeous EP all together, from Tweedy’s life-slowly-fading-out “Nobody Dies Anymore” – “Nobody says goodbye/But everybody goes home” – to the absolute loneliness-in love of “I’ll Find a Way” – “It was so sweet/How did it get so sour?” As with her own songs, White understands that the slow death of a love is even sadder than the break-up. And she always knows, seemingly effortlessly, just how to bring the sorrow home.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Luxury Liner” – penned by Gram Parsons and sung by Emmylou Harris, this musically upbeat song, featuring a guitar solo from Luke McCreary, gives White’s band a chance to shine (much like Harris did on her take) while also demonstrating, without a doubt, White’s potential to match Emmylou’s half-century run as country music’s best, most indispensable voice.
Five for Silver was produced by Jonathan Wilson, mixed by Wilson and Grant Milliken, recorded by Milliken and mastered by Paul Blakemore. Musicians on the album include Bella White (vocals, guitar), Jonathan Wilson (drums, percussion, B-Bender, National Resonator, electric guitar), Omar Velasco (nylon acoustic guitar), Buck Meek (electric guitar, nylon guitar, background vocals), Gabe Noel (bass, acoustic bass, Ampeg baby bass, baritone guitar), Will Gramling (piano), Patrick M’Gonigle (fiddle, violin, tenor guitar), Drew Erickson (piano, Hammond organ, string arrangements), Grant Milliken (vibraphone), Erin Rae (vocals) and Luke McCreary (guitar).
Find more information on Bella White here: https://linktr.ee/bellawhitemusic
Check out our earlier review here: REVIEW: Bella White “Among Other Things”
