Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter – Last Resort Motor Inn
An interesting set from award-winning alt-country singer-songwriter & fiddler Sara Milonovich. She touches on roads, communities, the music scene & stories rooted in rural America: mill towns, farmers, resilient women who survive on the margins of society & people searching for connection in fractured times. What every generation has done through history.
People forget that living during the 1918 Spanish flu, Prohibition, the Depression, women’s suffrage, WWII, the Cuban missile crisis, & the Vietnam conflict (with a draft) all had similar fears & concerns during anxious times. People will always have something to struggle with. That’s life. But Sara (vocals/acoustic guitar/baritone violin/acoustic & electric fiddles) addresses today’s fears in her own special way.
Greg Anderson (acoustic & electric guitars/electric & acoustic basses/banjo/keys) maintained & produced the 9 rooms at the Last Resort Motor Inn (Dropped Oct 30/Loonymusik/46:52) & recorded at locations in Red Hook, Beacon, Bethel & the Bronx, NY. With stops at studios in Nashville, Jersey City, NJ, Toronto, Chiba, Japan & New Windsor, Scotia. The songs deal with identity, persistence, & the common ground we must seek.
Sara’s work is inspiring; she applies techniques & approaches that make her message even more…compelling. Vocally, Sara has an exciting, well-nourished voice that’s assured & expressive. “What We Did With the Place” is a good opening, but the enticing “Last Resort Motor Inn” has a grip on the ear like Rickie Lee Jones’ classic “Last Chance Texaco.” Surrounded by country-style playing & warm fiddle, the vocal isn’t country-mellow but an unrestrained narrative with good words, a contemplative mood, & effective vocals with good range. Excellently performed. More of a hoedown tune is the banjo-driven “In the Field.” Swirls of Hammond organ & hurdy-gurdy contrast with the banjo & it’s durable. The full sound adds a special dynamic.
What’s surprising is the haunting choice of King Crimson’s “Starless” as a cover; this is a weightier ground. Robert Fripp music by an alt-country artist? This KC tune had David Cross’s violin, so I see how it would captivate another string player like Sara & she’s superb & Daisycutter cuts it. Kudos to drummer Justin Guip (not easy to follow a Bill Bruford drum style). All the musicians captured the atmosphere. I’m really respectfully impressed, as Fripp & David Cross should be. They reached someone with their intricate music, Sara Milonovich & she tweaked it wonderfully.
Highlights – “What We Did With the Place,” “Last Resort Motor Inn,” “In the Field,” “Starless” & “Me + Mine (Lamentations).”
Musicians – Jeremy Baum (Hammond organ), Nicholas Boulerice (hurdy-gurdy), Bob Buckley (harmony), Larry Campbell & Lloyd Maines (pedal steel), Abbie Gardner & Rob Ickes (dobro), Leigh Gibson (harmony/acoustic guitar), Justin Gulp & Ben Wittman (drums), Cody Kilby (mandolin/Resonator guitar), Viktor Krauss (acoustic bass), Bruce Molsky (harmony/nylon string banjo), Boo Reiners (harmony/guitar/banjo) & Leo Travers (electric bass).
Color image by Samantha June/Arius Photos. CD @ Apple & https://saramilonovich.com/