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The Singer-Songwriter Collection Various Artists Rounder, 2002
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Reviewed by Mark Gallo 
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The Singer Songwriter Collection,
part of Rounder's exhaustive Heritage series, presents 17
cuts representing many of the most important "folk" singers
of our time. This is meat-and-potatoes for Rounder, perhaps
the most eclectic record label on the planet. Though they
have released just about every kind of music imaginable in
their 30-plus year history, tellers of tales and troubadours
of every stripe have been at the core of what the folks in
Cambridge do best. Indeed, their initial 1971 release was a
folk music record. Not everyone who records for them,
including those assembled here, will be recognizable to even
the most educated of ears, though most are well established
and highly esteemed musical poets. Patty Larkin, who can hardly be called a "folk" singer anymore, remains a first rate singer songwriter, as is adequately displayed on the 1990 version of "Metal Drums," included on The Singer Songwriter Collection and recorded live in Cambridge. Tanya Savory's "Big Town" is a dusty tale of a disappearing landscape, and Nancy Griffith's classic "Love at the Five & Dime" may be more compelling now than when it was first heard in 1985. Hers is one of the great voices in American music. Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Without Love We're Just Wastin' Time" is reminiscent of the best of Rodney Crowell. Bill Staines has a fine voice that suits his storytelling style. And so it goes. These are an impressive collective of poets and observers of the human condition. Without singer-songwriters we might have fewer musicians keeping us honest. This is the truth. Sometimes warm, sometimes stark, it speaks to life in these semi-United States better than any talking head or newspaper opinion-maker ever could. This is the truth. | June 2003
Mark Gallo is a long-time freelance music journalist whose byline has appeared in over 30 publications in the past 25 years. He has also been a DJ, publicist and archivist/researcher. When not writing about music he is a social worker |
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