ROBIN HOLCOMB
Big Time
Nonesuch
· Bill Frisell and the McGarrigle sisters collaborate with alt-country pioneer.
While most of the alt-country crowd has an indie rock background, Robin Holcomb's roots are in the American classical tradition, and sometimes this shows more than it ought to. While earlier albums were closer to the Appalachian Gothic folk subsequently popularized by Will Oldham, her previous release, Little Threes, was a rather odd combination of Aaron Copland and Kristin Hersh. Big Time strikes out in yet another direction, towards the folk-rock of the Walkabouts, and in its most blatant manifestations, that doesn't quite work either.
Fortunately, the majority of tracks are introspective post-folk or stomping traditional tunes, both of which are flawless, and more than make up for the occasional excesses elsewhere.
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