Queen of Time

by Lindsay Lou

Overview

Having built a fan base that included many colleagues with her genre-crossing bluegrass group Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys and a role in the harmony-vocal folk trio the Sweet Water Warblers, Nashville-based Michigander Lindsay Lou went solo with the even more genre-blending Southland in 2018. She continues to dip into alt-country, bluegrass, folk, rock, and more on the singer/songwriter-oriented follow-up, Queen of Time, her Kill Rock Stars label debut. Among the album's first impressions are its effortlessly intricate musicianship and the fact that it's remarkably warm and striding given that its songs were inspired by a period that included loss, divorce, and the arrival of a career-threatening pandemic. The track list opens with one of its two covers, the affectionate and poignant "Nothing Else Matters," a song written by friends Maya de Vitry and Phoebe Hunt that Hunt sent to Lindsay Lou to learn for a gig. With lyrics including "I don't need to live forever to know I'll always love you," the song immediately connected with her, and the Queen of Time version features expert accompaniment to Lou and her band by Dobro player Jerry Douglas (who earns a feature credit here) and mandolinist Dominick Leslie (Bela Fleck, Molly Tuttle). Next, a rare melancholy entry, "Nothing's Working," features Billy Strings. The clouds soon part with the second cover, an appropriately cheerful version of Billy Swan's "I Can Help." The tone remains uplifting and thoughtful throughout the rest of Queen of Time, as it traverses breezy folk-rock (the title track), lively bluegrass ("Rule"), lush soft rock ("Shame"), and countrified close-harmony song ("Silent") as well as tracks featuring recorded conversations with Lou's down-to-earth grandmother. All told, it's a lovely, accomplished set of songs that offers compassion and wisdom in the face of adversity. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	09/29/2023
Label:	Kill Rock Stars
UPC:	0759656000819
Rank:	6105

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lindsay Lou   Primary Artist