Annie and Rod Capps Never Done
Annie and Rod Capps have a new folk album Never Done that lays a new step on the long traditional folk music path. “Folk” can mean a lot of different things nowadays, including essentially pop music, and as long as it’s not full electronica and autotune it seems like almost anything goes. But with music from Annie and Rod Capps, you’re getting folk music in the original sense: with clarity, stories that feel light and buoyed by the skillful music. But it’s transformed with electric instruments from their rock background too, and easy guitars combine with stringed instruments like mandolin and cello, with touches of pedal steel and keys. Lyrically, the songs are about the frenetic pace of life, the burn out that can accompany it,
“Here’s to the Moment” is a toast to the moments you don’t see coming. Clear bright vocals and stories told in a whimsical folk style and a tale of someone who toook off on the road, after “putting her compass in her car…. here’s to the moments.” “Pardon My Dust” again addresses the speed at which life passes, in metaphorical analogies with darting around on the road, and trying to get where we’re going: “all I know is the day will come when I’m finally done, ’cause I’ll be six feet under ground.” The guitar is a little Mark Knopfler-ish here, but entwining with mandolin.
By the time we get to the title track “Never Done” the theme is out in the open with the never ending list of adventures and tasks with only the one precious and rare moment that occasionally opens up where we slow down and can at least reflect on the fact that “our work here is never done.” On “Stupid Things,” we look back on the relatably stupid things we did in our youth and the mandolin is quite complex: “I used to do a lot of things and some of them were stupid, a thing or two or three I don’t know how I got away with. It’s a wonder I’m still standing here today but hey, nobody’s perfect and I guess I turned out okay.”
“Imitation of Things” slows things down a notch with a slightly more Western feel with bits of baritone guitar and some life advice to quiet all the noise in your mind: ” when there’s nothing you can do and nothing he can say to turn off all the noise inside your head, dial up a friend, let them do the talking, listen to their song.” Later, “Splinter” takes on being locked in an old dried out relationship in a way that forces us not to look away from the worst that relationships can become. And hope there’s still time for a better direction.
Annie takes the lead on vocals with harmonies from other singers that lift the songs up in the right places. The combination of complex mandolin and guitars is where this duo and their band really pull off a unique musical style within a beloved tradition, as their stories and observations add insights to the canon. The album is full of accurate observations about the whirl of modern life and the choices we have within it. All in all a provocative and replayable album.
You can find the music here: https://annieandrodcapps.bandcamp.com/album/never-done
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Album Premiere: Annie and Rod Capps’ “When They Fall”
The album was produced by Annie Capps, engineered by Geoff Michael, and recorded at Big Sky Recording in Ann Arbor, MI.
Musicians on the album are the band: Annie Capps on vocals and guitars; Rod Capps on guitars, viola and vocals; Jason Dennie on mandolin and vocals; Dan “Ozzie” Andrews on bass; and Michael Shimmin on drums and percussion; and features guest appearances by Drew Howard on pedal steel; Mike Lynch on piano and organ; Annie Bacon on vocals; Jim Bizer on vocals; and Jan Krist on vocals.