Time (The Revelator)

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Timing and talent align on Time (The Revelator). Gillian Welch had already made two strong records—Revival and Hell Among The Yearlings—when in 2000 she appeared on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, more than holding her own against singing partners Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. People were ready to hear what she did next, and with Time (The Revelator), she and co-writer/guitarist/singer David Rawlings exceeded expectations by delivering music of even more depth and beauty. Their work to date had evoked an old-fashioned America, and there was still plenty of antiquity coursing through their songs. Their harmonies on "I Want To Sing That Rock And Roll" blend like the Everly Brothers', and the sprightly vocal melody and intertwined acoustic guitar figures on "Red Clay Halo" sound like they were cut from the same cloth as Bill and Charlie Monroe's. But Welch had begun to work equally vivid details into her writing that might have been experienced by a person of her own time. The protagonist of "My First Lover" loses her virginity to a Steve Miller song, and "April The 14th Pt. I" strings together a series of disasters that starts with Abraham Lincoln's assassination and leads to a rock band's lousy gig. She even casts an eye upon an unpleasant future, acknowledging some distasteful financial facts about playing music on "Everything Is Free" that have only gotten truer with time. Mindful of their roots and fully aware of their own power to write and perform songs that are enduring, unforgettable worlds unto themselves, Welch and Rawlings reached the height of their powers on Time (The Revelator). © Bill Meyer/Qobuz