Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lori McKenna: "Pieces Of Me" (2001) CD Review


Album features excellent songwriting and Lori's strong and always interesting voice.

The album opens with "Mars," which is a beautiful song (apart from the pointless cymbals at the very beginning). Lori's voice is excellent, as she sings, "You might see yourself in me -/but I don't see nobody I know/This isn't the way I figured it would be/when i figured it a long time ago."

Richard Shindell Performs Backing Vocals On "Never Die Young"

"Never Die Young" is a pretty and sad song, featuring Brad Hatfield on keyboard and Richard Shindell on backing vocals. The chorus is, "I am the one who will never die young/I am a martyr and I can not hide/But I'm not a winner, I'm just brilliantly bitter/I'm sealed by my skin, but broken inside."

"God Will Thank You"

"God Will Thank You" is a more upbeat, fun song, featuring a cool fiddle part by Ian Kennedy. The lyrics are playful: "And I heard about Adam and Eve but I still believe she never got a fair trial." And: "Or maybe you believe in God because/The big bang theory don't hold much weight. God will thank you."

"Fireflies" Features Ellis Paul On Backing Vocals
"Fireflies" is a sweet fairytale song. The lyrics are wonderful. Here is a taste: "Before you knew me - I traveled around the world/I slept in castles and fell in love because I was taught to dream."

Ellis Paul performs backing vocals on this song. As a side note, Ellis Paul actually a wrote a song called "Fireflies," and released it on his second cassette (yes, cassette), Am I Home.

"Girl Like Me"

"Girl Like Me" is another playful song with a good keyboard part by Brad Hatfield. The chorus is "Well, someone hurt you and I'm sorry that you're lonely/If you were everything you promised you would be.../You wouldn't be in a place like this - with a girl like me."

"Pink Sweater"
"Pink Sweater" is just a really cool song, and the way she says the word "sweater" is just delightful. Could listen to that over and over. Plus, it has the lines, "You are cold but you boil/You are lower than dirt - and not worth the soil."

"Pieces Of Me" Title Track
The title track, "Pieces Of Me," is wonderful. It starts off, "I have been a poet all my life. With really not too much to say./So you can push me anyway you like. But you can't push me away."

All the songs on this album were written by Lori McKenna.

Musicians On CD
The musicians on this album include: Lori McKenna on vocals and acoustic guitar, David Goodrich on electric guitar and mandolin, Mike Rivard on bass, Billy Beard on drums, Kris Delmhorst on cello and backing vocals, Mike Rinquist on congas and percussion, Brad Hatfield on keyboard, Ian Kennedy on fiddle, Michael Ward-Bergeman on accordion, Seth Connelly on steel guitar, Crit Harmon on tambourine and Joe Donnelly on triangle and tambourine.

Backing vocalists include Concetta Gordon, McCawley Burke, Richard Shindell, Jennifer Kimball, Ellis Paul and Meghan Toohey.

Crit Harmon produced this album.

CD Track List
  1. Mars
  2. Never Die Young
  3. God Will Thank You
  4. This Fire
  5. Fireflies
  6. Girl Like Me
  7. Instead
  8. Pink Sweater
  9. Deserving Song
  10. Pieces Of Me
  11. You Are Loved

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