Holler

by Amy Ray

Overview

Prior to 2014's highly regarded Goodnight Tender, Amy Ray had spent her career, both solo and with fellow Indigo Girl Emily Saliers, dancing around the margins of various American roots traditions. The Indigo Girls' music has always been rooted in folk, and Ray's solo albums have often taken the form of rough-hewn Southern punk and indie rock with occasional mandolins and rootsy adornments that implied her Georgia upbringing without ever really approaching anything that could be called country. When she finally let loose with Goodnight Tender, it was Ray approaching Americana in her own maverick style, borrowing bits of classic outlaw country attitude and raw mountain music and infusing it with a sort of hard-won grace and the seemingly eternal punk spirit that is her hearth fire. Following four years later in its footsteps is her sixth album, Holler, a hearty country-soul masterwork that treads similar rural routes and offers up some of the most organic and cohesive songwriting of Ray's career. Working again with producer Brian Speiser and her core live band, Holler is by and large an analog effort, recorded mostly live to tape at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, North Carolina. A deep roster of impressive guests like Vince Gill, Alison Brown, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Derek Trucks, Justin Vernon, and Brandi Carlile populate the 14 tracks, all lending their signature talents in a collaborative way without distracting too much from the bigger picture. More arranged and thematic than anything she's done before in her solo career, Holler begins with an instrumental prelude ("Gracie's Dawn") that is equal parts old-time Southern waltz and classic Nashville countrypolitan, introducing the sonic palette of pedal steel, strings, piano, and most notably, the big horn stacks that appear throughout the rest of the album. The heavy brass element, which adds weight and attitude to cuts like the defiant Southern identity statement "Sure Feels Good Anyway" and the raucous band rave-up "Sparrow's Boogie," was inspired by Jim Ford's 1969 cult classic Harlan County, according to Ray. The sparrow reappears later on in the beautiful ballad "Sparrow's Lullaby," while the linked "Old Lady Interlude" and "Old Lady Dreaming" furthers add to Holler's thematic element, tying the overall sequence together in interesting ways. Throughout it all, Ray's powerful voice delivers personal ruminations, affirmations, history lessons, and the fiery politicized missives and cultural reflections that come from a lifetime of activism. More than anything, though, Holler has heart and soul and its richness and depth make for one of the best releases of her career. ~ Timothy Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	09/28/2018
Label:	Daemon Records
UPC:	0767691906119
Rank:	82557

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Amy Ray   Primary Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Kofi Burbridge   Wurlitzer,Fender Rhodes,Piano
David Ralicke   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Baritone)
Rutha Harris   Guest Artist
Brian Speiser   Horn,Vocals
Adrian Carter   Fiddle,Violin,Vocals,Octave Fiddle
Justin Ray   Trumpet
Kerry Brooks   Mandolin,Wurlitzer,Fender Rhodes,Bass (Upright),Bass (Electric)
Lyndsay Pruett   Violin
Jeff Fielder   Dobro,Vocals,Bass (Upright),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Shaunte Palmer   Trombone
Matt Smith   Dobro,Guitar (Acoustic)
Franklin Keel   Cello
Jordan Hamlin   Horn,Trumpet,French Horn
Matt Williams   Viola
Alex Bradley   Trumpet
Derek Trucks   Guitar (Electric)
Jim Brock   Drums,Percussion
Garrick Smith   Sax (Baritone)
Jordan Katz   Trumpet
Alison Brown   Banjo,Guitar (Acoustic)

Technical Credits

Kofi Burbridge   Horn Arrangements
David Ralicke   Horn Arrangements
Justin Vernon   Harmony
Bobby Tis   Mixing,Engineer
Chris Wood   Harmony
Brian Speiser   Harmony,Arranger,Composer,Producer,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Adrian Carter   Harmony,Arranger,Composer,String Arrangements
Denise Plumb   Design,Artwork
Brook Sutton   Engineer
Phil Cook   Harmony
Kerry Brooks   Arranger,Composer,Horn Arrangements,String Arrangements
Jeff Fielder   Harmony,Arranger,Composer
Matt Smith   Arranger,Composer
Matt Rausch   Engineer
Lucy Wainwright Roche   Harmony
James Wallace   Engineer
Clay Miller   Assistant Engineer
Carrie Schrader   Back Cover,Cover Photo
Sean Patrick Quackbush   Engineer
Ed McRee   Engineer
Trina Shoemaker   Mixing
Amy Ray   Arranger,Composer
Ben Holst   Harmony
Vince Gill   Harmony
Jim Brock   Arranger
Brandi Carlile   Harmony
Oliver Wood   Harmony
Jordan Katz   Horn Arrangements
Jano Rix   Harmony
Adam Ayan   Mastering
Alison Brown   Arranger