Some people don’t like bluegrass. I accept that, partially because there is some pretty horrendous bluegrass out there. But I cannot accept that people do not like vocal bluegrass, with an emphasis on vocal harmonies. When it is done right, there is not much I like better. At times, the voices hit chords which transcend harmony itself — the perfect chord, if you will. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is something special. Gold Heart hits this more than most.
I remember taking a copy of Seldom Scene’s Baptizing home for my father. He had always been a fan of hymns, saying on more than a few occasions that if they sang more and talked less in church, he would go. He probably wouldn’t have, but I understood. We had sat together by the console when I was a kid, listening to the harmonies of The Blue Sky Boys and The Louvin Brothers, and so many of the vocal bluegrass and country stars of my early childhood, and I wondered that this man who could not sing a lick could love music as he did. But that was Dad. When the music was right, he retreated inward. When I put on Baptizing, he leaned back and closed his eyes, and I could almost seeing him singing harmony on the inside. He would be doing that with Gold Heart, were he alive today.
I am sure his favorites on this album would be the title track, “Places I’ve Been,” a beautiful and haunting look back, a song full of the wonder of life; “Raleigh,” which is loneliness in song; and “You Make Me Smile,” which embodies a musical affirmation of love. The lyrics to the latter are simple but so fitting (“You make me mean every word that I say/You make me me”). All three of those songs wrap harmonies around words like a warm blanket. I wish he could hear this. Who knows? Perhaps he can.
I suppose these ladies could have packed the whole album with ballads, but I’m glad they didn’t. What better offsets to the slow and emotive than the slightly upbeat and toe-tapping. Like Seldom Scene, this band mixes things up, probably knowing that their limits. “Ain’t That Crazy” allows for some fine fiddling and for a groove to be laid down, “Truth Is” is a realization that love does not always work, no matter how hard you work. And “Late December” reflects a moment in time, in quickstep.
There are all too few albums these days which capture what Gold Heart has. Gold Heart parlays their upbringing or maybe just their inner roots into music for people who yearn for a simpler time, or maybe just for their own past. And they do it with voices which, when in full harmony, reach deeper than you might believe.
Oh, and before I forget, the Seldom Scene Baptizing album is available on CD right now over at the Rebel Records website and Gold Heart’s albums are available on theirs (click here). Buy Places I’ve Been and Baptizing and compare. While you’re listening, close your eyes and lay back. I haven’t found a better way to listen to vocal bluegrass yet.
(This song is not on the album but is an excellent representation of what Gold Heart can do, and it’s live!)