Description
Treasure of the Broken Land: The Songs of Mark Heard is a multi-artist tribute compilation featuring covers of 18 songs written by the late singer-songwriter Mark Heard (December 16, 1951 – August 16, 1992), independently released on Storm Weathered Records in June 2017. All tracks were produced by Phil Madeira.
Marking the 25th anniversary of his untimely death from cardiac arrest, the 18-track compilation Treasure of the Broken Land celebrates the best of Heard’s music from his last three albums – Dry Bones Dance (1990), Second Hand (1991), and Satellite Sky (1992) – with an emphasis on the Georgia native’s poetic lyrics. In Paste Magazine No. 22 June/July 2006 – a Special Collector’s Issue featuring the 100 Best Living Songwriters – Mark Heard was remembered as well, under the heading ‘Wish You Were Here’: “Mark Heard’s lyrics are weighted with such a wry longing that they’ll forever reflect a fresh turbulence.”
Mark Heard? What do you mean you haven’t hear of Mark Heard. Here is as good an introduction as you are likely to find. I mean who wouldn’t want to listen to new songs by Over The Rhine, Drew Holcomb, Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell and Birds of Chicago to name but five!
The thing is that this record is not about any of those amazing artists. It is about Mark Heard. Heard sadly passed away in 1992 at the age of just 41 years of age. Thankfully his untimely death was not before he had left a catalogue of work that was literally second to none in the Contemporary Christian Music industry.
When I say CCM, one of his greatest accomplishments was to so raise the bar of that genre in musicality, production, poetry and theology that he pushed the envelope and in his trail so many artists pushed out too and took their art out of the cheap cliched ghetto of Christian Book Shops and into the real world with real music about real issues, with real faith running through it!
So here we are a staggering 25 years after Heard left us and a collection of the very best in Americana musicians are wrapping their voices, guitars and so much more around Heard’s very best work. All the songs are taken from the trilogy of records that Heard released between 1990 and 1992, Dry Bones Dance, Second Hand and Satellite Sky.
Speaking of personal taste I love those three records so much but my one criticism would be that at times, on Satellite Sky particularly, the fertility of Heard’s production imagination perhaps cluttered the songs. Second Hand was much more stripped back and therefore my favourite of the three.
On Treasure Of the Broken Land the curator and producer of the project Phil Madeira, with his choice of artists and varied arrangements, has given the songs so much more room to breathe.
The Mississippi All Stars version of «Freight Train To Nowhere» and Birds Of Chicago’s «Rise From The Ruins» open the songs in brand new ways.
Then there are the bluesy country rock guitar strut of Red Dirt Boys’ «Satellite Sky» and Drew Holcomb’s stunning «Tip Of My Tongue» which would have sat neatly on The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street!
Over the Rhine’s «Look Over Your Shoulder» and Lily and Madeleine’s «What Kind Of Friend» tenderly reflective. Sarah Potenza’s «Lonely Road» is given the perfect atmosphere and dramatic effect!
All of it shines revelatory light on the incredible poetry of Mark Heard. Heard points his sharp mind, heart and soul at many things but three angles reached into my soul early on.
First is his introspective soul searching:
“And what kind of friend survives the night in a frightened sense of self-defence?
What kind of friend can take the ache of losing face for friendship’s sake?
What kind of friend do friends become when the heart says “kill” and the soul says “love”?
What kind of friend could I become?
What kind of friend am I?”
– What Kind Of Friend“The dam of time cannot hold back
The dust that will surely come of these bones
And I’m sure I will not have loved enough
Will not have loved enough”
– Nod Over CoffeePerhaps his most potent punch comes when Heard points at the spirit if the age:
“But they have packaged our virtue in cellulose dreams
And sold us the remnants ’til our pockets are clean
Til our hopes fall ’round our feet
Like the dust and dead leaves
And we end up looking like what we believe”
– Orphans of God“She’s heard it said by the drone in her head
That the wages of spend is debt
She figures that’s better than nothing to show for the years of tears and sweat
If she could put her hand on the brake of the land
Find the treason in the diesel and the smoke
She would jar the teeth of the dull and the meek and feed them the truth until they choke”
– Freight Train To NowhereUltimately there is hope that lies within:
“I see you now and then in dreams
Your voice sounds just like it used to
I believe I will hear it again
God how I love you
Treasure of the broken land
Parched earth give up your captive ones
Waiting wind of Gabriel
Blow soon upon the hollow bones”
– Treasure Of The Broken Land“Every now and then I seem to dream those dreams
Where the orphans suckle and the slaves go free
Touching that miraculous circumstance
Where the blind ones see and the dry bones dance”
– Dry Bones DanceYou get the drift – literary and spiritually deep, caressing and colliding faith and the ailments of the age. Thank you Phil Madeira for redressing these songs in an eclectic record with an Americana cohesion. A triumph! [Steve Stockman, Soul Surmise, June 2017]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/treasure-of-the-broken-land-the-songs-of-mark-heard/1225385629)
CD tracklist:
01. Matt Haeck – The Dry Bones Dance – 3:52
02. Levi Parham – I Just Wanna Get Warm – 3:09
03. Birds of Chicago – Rise From The Ruins – 3:45
04. Lily & Madeleine – What Kind Of Friend – 2:43
05. Sean Rowe – Everything Is Alright – 3:01
06. Rodney Crowell – Nod Over Coffee – 4:08
07. Cruz Contreras – Mercy Of The Flame – 3:15
08. Amy Speace – House Of Broken Dreams – 3:58
09. Drew Holcomb – Tip Of My Tongue – 4:18
10. Willie Sugarcapps – Worry Too Much – 5:08
11. Amy Helm, Cindy Morgan & Levi Parham – Orphans Of God – 4:00
12. Sierra Hull – Strong Hand Of Love – 4:04
13. Red Dirt Boys – Satellite Sky – 4:31
14. Humming People – Nobody’s Looking – 3:41
15. North Mississippi Allstars – Freight Train To Nowhere – 6:29
16. Buddy Miller – Treasure Of The Broken Land – 3:55
17. Sarah Potenza – Lonely Road – 4:42
18. Over the Rhine – Look Over Your Shoulder – 3:55
“Freight Train to Nowhere” (Radio Edit)
In a world in which tribute bands are the rage, covers given more cache than creative originals, and compilations more idea than success, Treasure of the Broken Land stands out. In fact, the music landscape what it is, it hovers far above. For that, we can thank Jeff Grantham and Phil Madeira – Grantham for keeping the focus, Madeira for making sure the project have that focus. I had no idea who was Mark Heard nor was I familiar with but a couple of his songs, but this project brought it home for me and should for you, too. This, in fact, may be among the best compilations recorded for the right reasons ever. Let me explain.
Compilations are iffy. To truly put together a good one, you need more than just a string of songs. You need songs which truly belong together. This collection of the works of Mark Heard really fits the bill. Then, you need to match the performer(s) to the song. None of this, hey, currently popular music guy, pick a song from this hat and do a cover thing. More like, hey, Rodney Crowell, ever heard Mark Heard’s «Nod Over Coffee»? How about recording it for this compilation we are curating to honor the songwriter’s works? And even then, you have one big step to go. Finding the producer. How do you find someone who can produce the music? Make it seem like a real album and not just a depository for songs? Who has that ability to know what should be recorded and how to work with artists to make sure it is handled with focus without getting in the way?
If it was easy I would love compilations but the truth is that it isn’t and I don’t. So when I slipped this puppy into the player I had little hope. Then the music began. A nice rocker to start (Matt Haeck and an all-star band doing «The Dry Bones Dance», rockabilly the way it is supposed to be), then Levi Parham takes «I Just Wanna Get Warm» on a light folk/rock ride and makes way for Birds of Chicago’s version of «Rise From the Ruins», the band and vocals dripping modern gospel (nice understated horns, too), and next, a surprise to my ears, Lily and Madeleine, carrying on that gospel string with horns and band of perfection and sisterly voices to match, and here comes Sean Rowe with his slightly imperfect (but perfect, all the same) bass-to-tenor voice singing «Everything Is Alright».
Five songs in and I knew this compilation was an exception. It was like this huge stage packed with one band made up of unlimited talent, the talent fit to each song, musicians stepping up and stepping back as need be. It felt like a band! And for eighteen songs, they were. Not every musician on every song, but band, nonetheless.
Call it what you want – folk/rocky, Americana, roots gospel, alt.country, country – it makes no difference. This is an album which belongs to be called an album, not just a collection of songs with a loosely put together theme. Seriously, how long has it been since you have heard a compilation which was more album than compilation? I would venture to say that if you are honest, a long damn time.
And this album will introduce you to, if you don’t already know them, the songs of Mark Heard, the real core of it all. Song after song presented in different styles but fit to the theme and the sound. I tell you, it isn’t easy. Which is why I will not list the musicians individually, though they definitely deserve it. The sound is ensemble – band. The result is an album of which I am very sure Mark Heard would be proud. Rest in peace, Mr. Heard, and be assured that your music will not disappear. Your musician friends will not allow it. [Frank Gutch Jr., No Depression, June 14, 2017]
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