album reviews

Hope Nunnery’s “Wilderness Lounge” CD

By newoldtymer ⋅ May 6, 2008 ⋅ Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Music fans enjoy seemingly infinite variety and choice these days; the connectivity of the Web enables those who wish to dig the ability to find rare jewels. Well, here is a diamond for you: Hope Nunnery. Ms. Nunnery is an awesome performer who, amazingly, seems to have delivered her debut well into her middle-age years. Her record, Wilderness Lounge, is a precious one, and deserving of a place of prominence.

Nunnery must have taken more than her share of licks growing up, for her lyrics reveal a hell of a lot of pain. The damaged child inside her emerges again and again, her longing for comfort from the holy Father irrevocably sewn to the anger and hurt dispensed by her earthly father. Now grown, Nunnery is a changeling, alternately playing the role of a soother and a bringer of wrath to those who have come to hear her play. These songs, taken together, become a vivid gallery of fractured memories and unvarnished self-portraiture, and their power to take the listener through the emotional spectrum is truly remarkable.

The sound of Wilderness Lounge is further distinguished thanks to the presence of her rock-solid sideman Steve Tarshis, who, citing Son House as an major influence, has wed Nunnery’s Appalachian voice to a Delta-blues foundation. The result is a recording that has appeal to disparate audiences, and bridges one type of rural music to another in a manner that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Every genre has its champions: Leadbelly, Roscoe Holcomb, and Hazel Dickens, for example, are held up as artists who best embody the sound of their respective places and times. Perhaps Hope Nunnery, as the years roll, will be similarly embraced, for she clearly has the talent and the presence of these artists who have come before her. Wilderness Lounge is a place where all roots-music fans should want to go.

-Rawson Gordon