Self-released

*****

Some 15 years ago Louisiana-born Alecia Nugent was one of the leading female singers in bluegrass music. Signed to Rounder Records, she was a regular IBMA and SPBGMA award-winner and released three acclaimed albums. Produced by Carl Jackson her recordings, though steeped in bluegrass, always had a traditional country edge to them. Having started out in her early teens in her father Jimmy Nugent’s family group the Southland Bluegrass Band, she was destined for a lengthy and highly successful music career. Then in 2011, whilst at the top of her game, she turned her back on music and moved from Nashville back to Louisiana to be closer to her family and raise her daughters.

Alecia has decided that the time is now ripe for her return to music, only this time rather than following the bluegrass trail, she is turning her sights in the direction of mainstream country music. Working with Nashville producer Keith Stegall, and using traditional country structures as a foundation, her first new album in more than ten years explores the full spectrum of human emotion, with a lyrical rawness that is both disarming and life-affirming. The sweet smell of finesse is all over this welcome return of one of the most expressive singers of recent times.

The album encapsulates Alecia’s talent as both a songwriter and a singer. With a fondness for lonesome steel guitar the lush yet quiet textures allow her voice to really shine. Her original songs, mainly co-writes with Music Row heavyweights such as Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle, Roger Murrah and Brent Maher, have the kind of country songbird twang and spunk that made icons out of performers dating from Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton through Lee Ann Womack. Alecia has a way with simple stories and melodies that feel eternal and are enriched by a lifetime of love and warmth yet scarred by devastating heartbreak.

One of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard is They Don’t Make ‘Em Like My Daddy, in which Alecia spills her heart about her father's passing. As good country music should, it shares a broad enough message for listeners from all walks of life to relate to one person's specific feelings of loss and regret. A song that means so much to her, she includes two versions, the first is straight country with fiddle and steel guitar to the fore as Alecia’s emotional vocal tells an intimate story from her childhood—the song is a perfect example of the special, personal nature of her music. She closes the album with a bluegrass version featuring Rob Ickes evocative Dobro picking that for me lifts this rendition slightly above the ‘country’ track.

Equally as emotional is Way Too Young For Wings. Inspired by the tragic accident that took her daughter’s boyfriend’s life at just 21, it’s a pretty but heavy-hearted song that does lush things with a few bare ingredients. Alecia’s uncommonly warm, intimate and sincere vocal involves listeners at the deepest emotional level … ultimately, what she offers is a moment of healing. Her heart-breaking ballad Sad Song is drenched in universal appeal. Led by her airy, emotive vocal telling the story of a woman who finally garnered the courage to leave a toxic relationship

you can hear that her sweet, silken voice is just the tiniest bit worn around the edges. She’s lived it. All of it … she has fearlessly taken all of her heartache, confusion, and regret, and weaved it into a spellbinding tapestry of rich emotional colours and textures. Not all of her songs are that downbeat. She offers an easy-going Texas two-step in the delightful Tell Fort Worth I Said Hello. Twin fiddles, sighing steel guitar and a toe-tapping rhythm to die for all topped off with a stunning country vocal that feels effortless. She shows that she also has a wicked sense of humour with I Thought He’d Never Leave, a light-hearted cheatin’ song with a sly western swing vibe, it’s straight out of the Loretta Lynn songbook, but Alecia makes it her very own.

The title song is an old Tom T. Hall song that has also been recorded by George Jones that’s given a classic country treatment. While there’s an air of sombreness in the lyrics, the uplifting quality of the rhythm makes for the perfect way to let yourself get carried away into the realms of just what makes ‘real’ country music so addictive. I Might Have One Too, co-written by Erin Enderlin and Larry Cordle, shows that they are still writing ‘real’ country music tearjerkers on Music Row today, it’s just so tragic that country radio refuses to play ‘em. It’s an insightful, stripped-down, smoky/sultry reading full of sadness … her vocals ooze with desperate yet resigned feelings at the realisation that her relationship is about to disintegrate and maybe a beer with her soon-to-be ex is the best thing to do. In The Other Woman, a song co-written by Brandy Clark and Mark Stephen Jones, she simultaneously reflects the pain of being viewed as ‘other’ by most of the world and provides a source of strength and solace for those with similar struggles with a neat twist in the tail. It’s a great country heartbreak song in which a determined, protective woman issues chilling words of caution to another to steer clear of her man. 

This album is a masterful overlay of gentle acoustic textures, emotional turbulence, and philosophical insight. The songs themselves are rendered with fiddle, steel guitar, Dobro. mandolin, piano and guitars with her vocals farther forward in the mix than most popular country allows these days. Suffice it to say that if some of these songs don’t tempt a tear or two, then you’d be well advised to check your pulse and ensure your heart’s still beating.

www.alecianugent.com

September 2020