Baird, Meg – “Dear Companion ” – [Drag City]

ArtCrimes   6/5/2007   A Library, CD

Meg Baird
???Dear Companion???

Meg Baird???s full length, following up on the 7??? added at KFJC in the Fall of 2006. Both those tracks are here, as well as a mixture of original, traditional, and 70???s-era covers. This is a solo project recorded at home with no other musicians, with the steady, assured style of British folk pioneers like Anne Briggs, with virtually none of the psych-folk of Espers. Meg accompanies herself competently on guitar and dulcimer, as well as turning in a couple of acapella tracks (as in the unlisted track that reprises the title tune). Her original tunes are fully compatible with the traditional material, while the covers have a bit more pop sheen applied, such as multi-tracked voices. ???Waltze of the Tennis Players??? is a Fraser & Debolt tune (huh?), and ???All I Ever Wanted??? will be familiar to middle-aged hippies as a New Riders of the Purple Sage ballad.