All Eyes Out For You

It's been SEVEN years...

... since the last Gillian Welch studio album, Soul Journey.  At this rate, David Rawlings Machine will release another record before Welch does under her own name.

Looking ahead: 2010

Well, my year-end list is nearly complete.  There were, as always, some real gems in 2009, but on the whole, I'd say fewer keepers than usual.  2010, on the other hand, looks to be full of promise, primarily on the female singer-songwriter front, which - let's face it - pretty much makes or breaks my music year.

First, comes word that Tift Merritt is in the studio with producer Tucker Martine, who has produced a whole slew of great albums, not the least of which was the 2007 album from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter.  Speaking of whom, Sykes & Co. should have a new release in 2010 as well.

On Jan. 26, Patty Griffin will release the delayed Downtown Church, produced by Buddy Miller (whose heart problems likely delayed the project).  Allison Moorer will release Crows on Feb. 9.  The album reteams her with producer R.S. Field, who also produced her best record The Duel.  Grace Potter has a new album due in the spring, but unfortunately it appears that the sessions with T-Bone Burnett were scrapped.  I'm extremely interested but also a little worried about the direction of that project.

The Drive-By Truckers supposedly have not one, but two, new albums in the can, and those will presumably be released by ATO Records in the near future.  Spoon unexpectedly announced the release of a new album Transference, due Jan. 26 on Merge.

Sam Phillips will continue to release new work with her self-released digital project The LP, including three more EP's and a full-length album.

What else in 2010?  Might we hear the anticipated reteaming of Alison Krauss and Robert Plant?  Will Gillian Welch follow David Rawlings' 2009 lead and drop a new album after almost seven years of waiting?  Aren't Over The Rhine long overdue for a new studio album?

Dave Rawlings Machine - 'A Friend of a Friend': The Ramblings Review

If you can get past the hopes for the Dave Rawlings Machine - presumably that it would fill the void left by the six-year drought since the last Gillian Welch album - you might (like me) be pleasantly surprised by the first album under Rawlings' name, A Friend of a Friend.

My first listen was consumed by what I didn't hear - not enough of Rawlings' elegant guitar work, too few narcotically gothic folk songs.  Rawlings' voice, by his own admission, is a slight instrument on which to hang a full album.  To compensate, the arrangements are less sparse and more upbeat than those on Welch's records.  Only the medley of Bright Eyes' "Method Acting" and Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer" sounds as if it could be lifted from those previous albums.  Heck, there are even string arrangements that bookend the album.

Elsewhere, Rawlings and Welch get help from their buddies in Old Crow Medicine Show, lending the record a ramshackle charm that is decidedly less mannered and meticulous than Welch's albums.  Those distinctive qualities ultimately make A Friend of a Friend a thoroughly worthwhile - and sometimes enlightening - effort.

So even if the Dave Rawlings Machine fails to fill the void left by Gillian Welch's absence - what could, after all? - it does reveal more facets of the duo's considerable talents.  That's probably not exactly what you were hoping for in 2009, but it'll do nicely in the meantime.