Good News
Any musician who hunkers down with the collected works of Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, and the Carter Family will soon realize that gospel hymns are as important to that music as homesick ballads and giddy love songs. The Shenandoah Valley's Robin and Linda Williams, who have straddled the boundary between country and folk music for more than 20 years, know their hillbilly history as well as anyone, and they have finally released their first all-gospel album,Good News. For their latest project, the team has drawn religious songs not only from the expected sources of bluegrass, country and African-American gospel but also from the unexpected source of singer-songwriter folkies. In this category are Steve Young's weary lament, "Many Rivers"; Townes Van Zandt's infectious clap-along number, "Two Hands," and two of the Williamses' own compositions. These troubadour songs bring a very personal, idiosyncratic sensibility to an old, staid tradition, and the Williamses' vocals apply the same quality to all 15 songs in this collection. The mostly acoustic arrangements (the singers' guitars backed by Dobro, mandolin, and bass) are restrained, but the vocals take lots of chances, stretching some syllables with a bluesy twist and yelping out others impatiently. When Robin sings, "He'll turn your stumbling block into a stepping stone," he does so with the agitated bounce of someone trying to upset the status quo rather than preserve it. And when Linda tackles Dorothy Love Coates' "He's Right on Time," she gives it a slight swing feel as if inviting the listener to get caught up in the spirit.--Geoffrey Himes