NEW MUSIC
SELECTIVE HEARING | Robert Berman
DREW HOLCOMB AND THE NEIGHBORS
HUDOST
Dragons
Of Water + Mercy
Cason Cooley are along for the ride, and
they’ve roped in guest singer/songwriters Lori
McKenna, Natalie Hemby, and Zach Williams
in the bargain. The nostalgic “You Never Leave
My Heart” pounds out piano block chords
like a lost power ballad from the mid-1970’s.
Most of the album glides along on Holcomb’s
warm baritone, but the anthemic keyboard-
driven closer “Bittersweet” has more of a “Josh
Garrels sings Ryan Adams” vibe.
Holcomb’s wife Ellie joins him on the marital
love song “But I’ll Never Forget the Way You
The Neighbors return for another articulate Make Me Feel.” One track encourages us to It’s one of those days when you discover an
Americana set mining the terrain somewhere find our individual voices. “Maybe we’re not artist that you could have been enjoying for
between Tom Petty and Bill Mallonee. Nathan supposed to try everything”. years, if you knew they existed. HuDost are
Duggar, Rich Brinsfield, Will Sayles, and
the husband/wife team of Moksha Sommer
and Jemal Wade, who have been making
beautiful music together both figuratively and
literally over the course of several albums and
appearances at festivals like Bonnaroo. Their
passion for helping the needy has led them
to partner with humanitarian projects such as
Blood: Water Mission, which provides clean
drinking water and AIDS care to impoverished
African communities. That project was co-
founded by Jars of Clay, who participate
extensively in HuDost’s latest album, the fittingly
titled “Of Water + Mercy.” Sommers’ lush
vocals draw the listener along a path strewn
with ambient sounds seasoned with Middle
Eastern cadences, less purely acoustic than
their previous work. Lyrics cover a swath of
topics including the hope of eternal life: “When
I’m gone, buried in the earth, I will turn to dirt
for a holy birth” declares the track “Red-Haired
Son” before breaking into a stirring double-time
groove. Fans of Jars, Loreena McKennitt, and
Enya have someone new to check out now.
Robert Berman
Robert is a Sunday School teacher, music nerd,
and acoustic guitar enthusiast. He lives in rural
Tennessee with his wife and three boys.
56
October 2019
Subscribe for Free...