It’s that time again, folks. I’m going back in time to write a retro CD Review of a local artist released years ago, Karen Grenier’s 2011 release Crazy Love. On this album Grenier, a New Hampshire to Somerville, Massachusetts singer-songwriter spawns numerous romantic tales with a fine texture of country music idioms and acoustic instruments surrounding her voice with an authentic Americana roots flavor.
Title track “Crazy Love” opens with a bulbous foot tapping groove, a sweet, lilting fiddle melody, and Grenier’s silky smooth voice riding the melodic rail with a bright tone and an easy going delivery. Her lively vocal play dances around her country groove with a zesty enthusiasm and a pleasantness that can’t be denied. Irresistible, this one must have had Grenier’s fans tapping or bobbing to the shuffle while their ears were treated to her candy apple voice.
“Surrender To The Day” lets Grenier showcase an uncanny ability to pay out a song in a considerate feel for the meter. Hip, Grenier just lets out enough of her vocal line per breath, pausing and continuing with elegance. Around that winsome vocal approach, producer Brian Coombes lays a smoky organ swirl as guitarist Myron Kibbee injects a line of jumpy guitar riffs. It all comes together tenderly as Grenier sustains her pleasant timbre in just the right places.
A mellow grooving tune called “Superhero (Michael Ryan’s Song)” finds the singer-songwriter’s heart and soul focused on a man burdened by prejudice against his sexual identity. Grenier puts so much of herself into this, putting across an amazing vocal performance. Her heartfelt build up in the mellow verses feel like a spiritual climb until Kibbee’s guitar break bares more of this song’s soul, a smoldering sustenance in his phrase. Then, Grenier’s tender appreciation in the chorus, with her gliding vocal, gives even greater lift.
“I Don’t Want To Fall Asleep” makes a strong case for romantic time. The emotional euphoria of being with another human being comes across well with the thick sound Grenier forms by combining her voice, acoustic guitar, her lead guitarist, and fiddler all wrapped into a cocoon of a hefty bass line and warm drum fills. Loose drifting motions inject this with a dreamy quality that speaks perfectly to Grenier’s theme.
A bouncy bass and a lively fiddle make “It Gets Better” into a real country hoedown. Its shuffling two step groove give Grenier a platform to make her voice dance around. She finds just enough opening in the groove to deliver her lilting vocal swings. This one can make anyone feel like dancing a jig.
The catchy “Oh Oh” could have become a hit on modern country radio. A scratchy rhythm guitar riff married to a slippery lead guitar form one likable texture as the rhythm section keeps the listener’s feet tapping to its infectious groove. Then, from there, it’s about the voice. Grenier belts this one out like nobody’s business. She uses her powerhouse vocal like a lead guitar phrase, sending out her voice, moving it over the support players and then pulling it back just to make another belt. Meanwhile, a purity in her voice further augments all that’s going on here.
Mellower, “What Do You Do” measures a depth of loneliness, Grenier’s tender vocal application expressing something everyone has felt from time to time. Over a pretty weave of acoustic and electric guitar, Grenier softly brushes against the instrumentation with serious sustains and considerate phrasing. It all comes together as a perfect mood piece.
“Soak Into Me” blends acoustic strumming with a greasy electric phrase. Grenier coats it all with a soothing, smooth but firm vocal phrase that makes the contrast interesting.
The homey, folksy “Carry Me Away” stretches itself from love song to personal anthem about a relationship. Describing what she admires about her love, Grenier’s well placed repetitions go beyond praising one person to actually celebrating why anyone might love another. Bristling guitar lines and a considerately paced groove provide the platform for the voice. Grenier’s vocal has a warmth that reminds of a smile, her heartfelt delivery adding another layer of authenticity.
Uptempo and catchy, “Steady” rocks things up. Thick wedges of bass and drum fills, a riffing electric guitar, a wiry lead guitar, and Grenier singing in an energetic rock manner give this one an edge. Twisty lyrics and a catchy chorus keep things in motion. Everything congeals just right in this vibrant rocker.
Close out track is a sensitive rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Grenier’s supple voice carrying the material smoothly past Jeremy Harman’ moody cello and a plump bass line.
Grenier had the world by the tail when she went into Rocking Horse Studio in Pittsfield, New Hampshire back in 2011 to have the incomparable Brian Coombes produce this massive effort. A larger than life sound carries Grenier’s tremendous voice and several electric and acoustic instruments with fine aplomb as the singer-songwriter shows she can manage a large recording with a lot of moving parts and still finish with something that keeps her listener turned on. No artist is an island. Grenier had along for the ride drummer Eric Wagley, bassist Joey Pierog, backing singers Michelle Coombes and Deanna Maples, fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki, cellist Amanda Schwersky, and viola player Kimberly Plummer.
