Clela Errington – Walkin’ Each Other Home
Delicacy certainly embraces the deep-toned voice of Toronto’s Clela Errington. She takes the traditional “I Know You Rider” often performed by The Grateful Dead & turns it into a low flame, bluesy, sexy Julie London-type lounge classic. Quite impressive. Ms. Errington knows how to hold the right note & when. How to use intonation to color lyrics with moans for accentuation. Pure professionalism, with intimacy, instead of being stiff with singing lesson exactness. Clela applies looseness, with a cool jubilance & not at the compromise of bravura. She adds a spirited performance & keeps the traditional wisp intact. Smooth like a gem.
There are 10 succinct melodies laid out on the easy listening avenue while Walkin’ Each Other Home (Dropped Oct 22/Independent/46:45). Produced by Jimmy Bowskill (electric & acoustic guitars/electric bass/mandolin/pedal steel) & Clela (vocals/acoustic guitar/harmonica), the tunes are rooted in an easy listening forum but enriched. “Careless Love” has a mandolin that lifts the tune from the middle-of-the-road muck into a classic performance with a rootsy feel & bluesy lounge adaptation. Something k.d. lang has done in the past. While Ms. Lang is more inclined toward a Patsy Cline interpretation, Clela drifts through with a June Tabor (“Lullaby of London”) tonality.
Each tune is wonderfully arranged. No drama. The Abbey Lincoln penned “Throw It Away” is exceptional. They’re piano-bar appropriate but possess a richer treatment with each engaging note. It’s Clela’s excellent ability to emphasize that allows a pastel song to have ebullient color. Songs have a personal style. A Joni Mitchell quality is evident in the original “Standing On the Platform, yet, has the gratifying vocalese of a Carrie Newcomer. If this is the kind of song Clela can write, there should be more. This is creative, expressive & she flirts with ideas in a lyrical sense, with clarity, & at times, with the narrative imagination of New Zealand’s Donna Dean (“What Am I Gonna Do”).
This quality surfaces again on “Don’t Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down,” a more spiritual composition with more vocal power. Too cocktail lounge for you? Strap yourself in for a convincing cover of Memphis Minnie’s blues scorcher “Got To Make a Change,” that sizzles on a low flame, slow & with heat. Eliza Gilkyson’s “Once I Had a Home” is ballad-perfection — a solstice of the genre. Ms. Errington shares space with Eliza, Heather Nova & Susan Osbourne (of the Paul Winter Consort – “Lay Down Your Burden”). Her voice will embrace you warmly.
Highlights – “I Know You Rider,” “Careless Love,” “Throw It Away,” “Standing On the Platform,” “Don’t Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down,” “Born To Be Loved,” “Got To Make a Change Blues,” “Once I Had A Home,” & the Alec Fraser produced “Full Moon Dark Time.”
Musicians – Steve O’Connor (piano/organ/accordion/synth/harmonium/bgv), Ian McKeown (drums/percussion/bgv), Alec Fraser (acoustic bass), Chris Bartos (electric violin), Jocelyn Barth (vocals) & Brittany Brooks (bgv).
Cover photo courtesy of Jen Squires. CD @ Amazon & Bandcamp + https://clelaerrington.com/
