Gillian Welch Dave Rawlings from the album Woodland

Gillian Welch Dave Rawlings from the album Woodland

Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings (from the album Woodland available on Acony Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The sway of a boxcar ambling across the open plains rides underneath “Empty Trainload of Sky”, the opening cut for Woodland, the recent release from the powerhouse combo of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. The duo offer a even ten tracks of perfection, their music as fragile as fine china when they bid “Howdy, Howdy” while dark notes tangle for “The Bell and The Birds” and lazy strums provide support for “Here Stands a Woman”. Gillian Welch and musical/life partner Dave Rawlings are a tried-and-true brand, offering the comfort of a favorite shirt, an easy conversation with a longtime friend, the warmth of a winter fire, and the first fresh breeze of spring with words and music.  Sharp guitar notes are the trumpet call that enters the observations of “The Day the Mississippi Died” as Woodland heads into “North Country” with soft strums and a wriggling lead guitar line.
 
The album title references the legendary Woodland Studios in East Nashville USA, owned by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. Of the studio, album, and its songs, the pair shared ‘Woodland is at the heart of everything we do and has been for the last twenty some years. The past four years were spent almost entirely within its walls, bringing it back to life after the 2020 tornado and making this record. The music is (songs are) a swirl of contradictions, emptiness, fullness, joy, grief, destruction, permanence. Now.’ Their words point fingers at life in 2024 as the cuts of Woodland reflect on the bridge between past and present for “What We Had” and describe a chance meeting in “Hashtag” while Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings introduce “Lawman” against the bright sparkle of acoustic notes and chase a harmonica riff to say hello to “Turf the Gambler”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
Listen and buy the music of Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings from AMAZON
 
For more information, please visit the Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings website