Old Paint

Artist: Freakwater
Label: Thrill Jockey
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 036172872220
EAN: 0036172872220
ASIN: B000004B2P

Release Date: 1995-10-10

Old Paint

Related Categories:

General

| Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Alt-Country & Americana

| Country | Styles | Music

General

| Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Alt-Country & Americana

| Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Tracks:

Gravity
Smoking Daddy
Gone To Stay
Little Black Train
Waitress Song
My One Desire
White Rose
Out Of This World
Kentucky House
Hero/Heroine
Ugly Man
Burying Geraldine

Similar Items:

Springtime
Thinking of You
End Time
Cut Yourself a Switch

Amazon.com

Freakwater makes a brand of acoustic-guitar-and-pedal-steel alt.country that's inspired, partly, by old-time country, though but by no means slavishly. For one thing, the group's frontwomen, Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean, write songs from thoroughly modern points of view. (The Carter Family never sang about slitting their wrists.) For another, Irwin's and Bean's striking harmonies are so ragged as to go flat (purposely?). Usually this strident approach only enhances the lonely poignance of the songs, but occasionally they push the technique to annoyance. Maybe it's no surprise then that, on <I>Old Paint</I>, the best numbers generally dispense with harmonies altogether, leaving one singer's haunting voice to weep all alone. --David Cantwell

Customer Reviews:

Sometimes I'm amazed............2006-04-17

You can smell the smoke long after the fine is gone
Every star in the sky's not the one that you can put your wish on
Every darkest hour can't be the one that's just before the dawn
Sometimes I'm amazed how the night just drags on and on

--Catherine Irwin in "Ugly Man"

Who else writes lyrics like this? These lines, plus several in "Waitress Song" and "Hero/Heroine" knocked me flat on my ass when I first heard them. It's astounding: she takes each cliche and doesn't quite turn it on its head......more accurately, she plumbs the depths of the cliche to see where it does and (more often) doesn't meet up with reality.

In so doing, her words truly come close to describing the actual experience of wading through a loss which feels as though it will never end. What more can you ask from great songwriting, to describe what that really feels like?

I do love the perverted hopefulness of these lyrics, though, too. She's tacitly allowing that there *will* someday be a metaphorical sunrise, but just not on anybody's timetable. The sun will come whenever it comes......could take years. Basically, in my opinion, the song seems to be advising you to create your *own* ways of dealing with loss and grief, because relying on the hollow Hallmark card sentiments society supplies will only leave you more alienated and sad in the long run.

This is a song about faith, a secular faith that even if a miserable ending can't be made sense of, it can at least somehow be survived (and maybe even learned from). This song has come to mean so much to me, because it speaks to belief and doubt in a language I can actually understand and identify with. It helps me see a path toward real faith, faith in myself and in humanity.

After you listen you'll wonder how you lived without it.......2006-02-03

I try to be open to all music but I do lean to what folks call alt-country and not regular country. Now to me the later seems well like some kind of a mass produced dumb down southern rock/top forty hybrid and the former like the real deal... lyrically heartfelt, honest, and a bit depressing with a sound that well sounds like country of old, or maybe it'd be better to just say a stripped down sound. This CD was my first exploration with the critter known as Freakwater and I was hooked from the get go. The album is so rooted in reality that it was often played by me to get through tough emotional, financial, drunken, fill in the blank times (John Prine was the other country artist that was leaned on as well). Buy this album if you are just baffled by the lack of solid song writing in any genre.

I'm not a country fan, but...........2001-01-18

I have never been interested in country, so when a friend recommended Freakwater, I did not want to give them a chance. I am so glad I did!!! Freakwater is one of the best groups I have ever heard!! End Time is flawless-- my favorite. The girls harmonize in a way that has not been seen since Crosby, Stills, and Nash. I recommend this and all other Freakwater albums to EVERYONE!! I love them!!

Simply brilliant.......2000-09-01

"Here, listen to this," my buddy said to me, slyly, as he handed me a copy of OLD PAINT. Wow. I was blown away. This is amazing stuff, kind of what Hazel Dickens would write for a crowd of Gen-X'ers. At first you wouldn't think Janet and Catherine leave anything to the imagination, yet while their songs are explicit in describing some pretty harsh realities, they are multi-layered, and can withstand hundreds of listenings while still seeming fresh. "The Waitress Song" is a masterpiece, "Gone To Stay" grabs your attention and doesn't let go, and "Kentucky House" is so darn much fun, I grin whenever I hear it. From that tentative "Here, listen to this" has grown an enthusiasm that knows no bounds. If you're tired of boring pop and think that Garth is just a rocker with an oversized belt buckle, grab a copy of OLD PAINT...this stuff is good for you!

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Mad About Tadd: The Music of Tadd Dameron ~ Continuum

Evening Interlude ~ Wendy Bradshaw

Priceless Jazz ~ Tom Scott

Uppsala Concert, Vol. 1 ~ Eric Dolphy

Plays Mostly Ellington ~ Eddie Miller Quartet

Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers ~ Zoot Sims

Vault Grooves - Sounds From The Vaults ~ Q&A

La Patata ~ Kelly Family

Bajan Beat, Vol. 2: More Crop Over Hits From Barbados ~ Various Artists

Button Box Artistry