Away Out on the Mountain
Tim O'Brien, the former leader of Hot Rize, grew up singing harmonies with his sister Mollie at Catholic folk masses in Wheeling, West Virginia. The two redheads are still blending voices, and their third album together,Away out on the Mountain, recalls the special sibling chemistry of Kate & Anna McGarrigle's best recordings. The O'Briens sing beautifully--with Tim's twangy tenor putting the twist into Mollie's pure, full-bodied soprano--but just as important is their ability to pick great songs and arrange them imaginatively. Neither O'Brien wrote any of the 14 songs on this album, but their choices betray a commitment to the strain of rural American music that runs through the folk, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop genres, marked by an unassuming stoicism in bad times and a wry humor in good.--Geoffrey Himes