Description
Down at the Whistle Stop is a studio album by the American singer and songwriter Paul Clark, independently released on Clark’s own label Minstrel’s Voyage Music in April 2014. The album was recorded and mixed by Nashville veteran Todd Robbins at Ocean Way Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee; with Paul Clark producing. Featuring musicians like Phil Keaggy, Phil Madeira, Dennis Holt, and Matt Pierson, among others.
Harkening back to the resonant, refined, acoustic approach of his early works, Christian music pioneer, Paul Clark, hardly sounds dated on his wonderful, new, long player, ‘Down at the Whistle Stop’. Armed with a cadre of strong songs and a coterie of accomplished (som legendary) musician friends, Clark takes us on a journey through the life of a believer, looking back at the joys, tribulations, questions and, ultimately, the answer to those questions in the person of Jesus Christ. Thankfully, Clark displays the wisdom of one who realizes that true beauty is often in the path less taken and is often littered with the refinement brought on from less than beautiful circumstance.
The title cut opens the album as Clark takes in the personage of a wizened traveler, even singing the song with weathered, lived in voice, as he sets the stage for the travelogue about to unfold over the next 10 tracks. The cut reminds me of classic artists like Tom Petty, or for you older music buffs, Stephen Stills, with its warm, acoustic gait and stinging electric accents, played by the inimitable Phil Keaggy. The latter makes another appearance on the subsequent «Entertaining Angels, Unaware», which borrows Mr. Keaggy’s affinity for a certain quartet of Liverpudlians in essaying a loping pop rocker that contains a middle section rife with orchestral nuance and the type of descending, multi-layered vocals that could have been lifted from Magical Mystery Tour, and alerts the listener to be aware of the circumstance of those around them. «Without Love» is one of two tracks that prominently features the vocals of Charity Von (The Civil Wars-like «Hey Jesus» being the other) and merges rustic folk-rock musical landscapes with a typically strong melodic core as Clark muses about the emptiness of a life lived when not adhering to the principals of I Corinthians 13. The languorous groove and jazz influenced interplay of «Drive-In» is (ahem) driven by wonderful performances from guests Phil Madeira on guitar and Hammond Organ, unerring rhythmic integrity from rhythm section players Matt Pierson on bass and Dennis Holt on drums, and an unexpectedly delightful Flugelhorn solo from Stanton Kessler.
Continuing on a journey that encourages vulnerability and the eschewing of self-preservation as a way towards the security of salvation, Clark continues his musical tour through Americana sonic canvases on the way to the pay-off of two beautiful songs that close the album on a note of comfort and resolution with the elegiac, acoustic ballad, «The Touch of Your Hand on My Face», featuring a stark but lovely string arrangement moved along by the sturdy strum of Baritone guitar and the forlorn echoes of accordion and harmonium. The fragile beauty of «After All…Love» is a perfect requiem to the passage of ones reliance on self into the arms of transforming love. “After all you can see, after all you can hear, after all you can touch, after all disappears, after every bloom, after every leaf falls down… After all, LOVE!”
It is important to note just how great this record sounds as Clark recorded in Oceanway Studio in Nashville, using live players and analog equipment. Each note resonates with a wisdom earned by the musician’s enthusiasm to live life authentically and pepper his observations with the stuff of real life instead of spewing platitudes that play well in modern church culture but do little to further the conversation of belief and true faith. ‘Down at the Whistle Stop’ is the best kind of record: one that honors the creative spark put in us by the Author of all things, yet asks as many questions as it attempts to answer. As an album fades, it is lovely to feel spiritually uplifted without feeling pandered to. Oh… one more thing. The artwork on this project is unbelievably cool as Clark utilizes sepia tones and a self-timer to create a beautifully evocative image concept. [Shawn McLaughlin, Christian Musician Magazine, March/April 2014, Volume 19, Issue 2]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/down-at-the-whistle-stop/858875555)
CD tracklist:
01. Down At the Whistle Stop – 4:14
02. Entertaining Angels Unaware – 3:45
03. Without Love – 3:35
04. Hole Between You Ears – 4:00
05. Drive In – 5:30
06. Some Spin – 4:24
07. Hey Jesus – 4:56
08. Baby Moon – 4:24
09. Shoreline – 5:49
10. The Touch of Your Hand On My Face – 4:52
11. After All…Love – 4:00
[responsive_vimeo 82640995]
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.