I heard her before I knew her name. That’s how it usually goes with voices that stay with you. “In a Lifetime” came out in 1985, a duet with Bono, and I remember thinking the woman singing with him was doing something he couldn’t quite do — something quieter and older and more certain. BonoContinueContinue reading “The Quiet Strength of a Donegal Voice: Remembering Moya Brennan”
Tag Archives: music
Protected: An Emergency Pick-Me-Up Kit: Break When Skies Are Gloomy
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Exploring the Depths of ‘Gideon’ by My Morning Jacket
The song that wouldn’t let go In a world full of noise and division, certain songs arrive like quiet companions. They ask honest questions and refuse to let go of them. “Gideon,” from Z by My Morning Jacket, is one such song. The echoing guitars and Jim James’ yearning vocals open space for honest searching. They pose simpleContinueContinue reading “Exploring the Depths of ‘Gideon’ by My Morning Jacket”
Dark Room, Yellow Light: How “Wrecking Ball” Remade Emmylou Harris
I came across the Wrecking Ball CD in the late 1990s, pulling it from the racks at the Vernon Parish Public Library in Central Louisiana. The cover alone — a high-contrast black-and-white close-up of Emmylou’s face blurred and streaked as though dissolving into shadow or motion, pierced by a single vivid yellow glow that cuts through theContinueContinue reading “Dark Room, Yellow Light: How “Wrecking Ball” Remade Emmylou Harris”
Hearing a Soul Mid-Sentence
There are songs that arrive already sorted out. Clean lines. Clear message. You know where the singer stands by the second verse, and nothing in the bridge is going to change that. And then there are songs that sound more like a man sitting at a kitchen table early in the morning, coffee going cold,ContinueContinue reading “Hearing a Soul Mid-Sentence”
Veni. Vidi. Scripsi. 