self-released

On “Curious Thing,” his first album in several years, singer/songwriter Cormac McCarthy returns with a formidable backing band with Kent Allyn on bass and keyboards and Billy Conway on drums. Duke Levine adds electric guitar, lap steel and dobro to the mix. It’s a stellar linuep: Allyn has played with Cosy Sheridan, Conway was part of the seminal Boston band Morphine, and Levine has lent his lap guitar talents to the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter.

McCarthy writes songs that tell stories culled from experience, from the sounds of the road in “Great Big Day” to the impermanence of life in the opening track, “Spring Snow.”  The lyrics and delicate lap steel of “Spring Snow” pay tribute to the late Johnny Cunningham. The fiddler, among other friends, is acknowledged in the album’s dedication.  Honoring friends and musicians who have passed in the last few years, “Curious Thing” is the bittersweet rebirth and creativity that can occur through the experience of loss. Pieces like “This Beautiful Place” offer the hope that can be gained from this new perspective.

The melancholy of “Spring Snow” and “This Beautiful Place” are punctuated by the whimsy found in other songs on the album. “Easy as Pi” cleverly equates love to our most well-known unresolved number, and “Curious Thing in the Middle,” explores the gray areas of life, supported by a rollicking guitar and harmonica. “A Little Something” falls near the end of the album, again paying homage to friends lost, but offering a sense of movement and acceptance not found on the opener. The closing track, “While the World is Sleeping,” offers the hope and knowledge that can only be gained by passing through difficult times.
The arrangements on the album support and showcase McCarthy’s baritone, allowing the lyric to take center stage.

In the liner notes, McCarthy acknowledges his absence from the road as a performing musician, as well as the time that’s passed since his last recording.  What we find in “Curious Things” is the telling of a personal journey well-worth the wait. 
—Sarah Boucher

For more information (and to sample some mp3s of his latest work), visit www.cormacmccarthy.net.