You checked out their latest album, the just-published-seconds-ago Wednesday in Winter, and you want to hear a little more from their extensive back catalog. Well, at The Ark of Music, we listen: The Stone Hill All-Stars, still very much from Baltimore, Maryland, present their sixth release, Gray Green. And yep, it’s slathered with the same captivating storytelling sauce prevalent in the aforementioned Wednesday in Winter. Let’s listen, and hit those highlights.
What we’re digging…
Opening track “El Abogado” is reserved, played to the beat of a churning train engine, playful, and descriptive in its deep tale telling. It’s the stuff that makes this group so gosh darn interesting and downright captivating.
“Gray Green Harvey Jackson” is another great example of a working man’s lament – the quirky yet very realistic thoughts and mannerisms of the oft-common but quite interesting man on the street. The song bounces in time with the imagined Harvey Jackson’s purposeful gait, and almost immediately, you assemble the existence of a normal, half happy/ half put-upon Harvey crossing your car quite abruptly in tightly packed traffic.
“Have You Seen Smitty,” and probably because of the accordion and that plain-speaking vocal, reminds me – a tad – of They Might Be Giants…but with more of a country sway. There’s sadness in the distinct personal profile of said Smitty, and again, the mind pictures such a person perfectly; the kind of person who emanates the aforementioned sadness, but keeps his shoulders straight regardless of the world’s copious weight.
Album closer “Wandering Over an Open Field” is a glorious waltz that reminds me of – and hopefully, I’m not the only one hearing this – “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” “Wandering Over an Open Field” has that sort of warm, you’re-home-again-and-we-missed-you-SO-MUCH feeling, along with that bit of sadness describing any pain endured while exploring – and challenging – the world. An excellent, emotional closer.
But is it good?
Gray Green is another winner. It tells, effectively and conversationally, the stories of us – all of us. Of the quirky and forgotten, of the once heroic and forever loathed, and the forever loathed but finally, miraculously, forgiven. It’s the music, the tales, of our love, our hate, our obstacles, and our private admissions. It’s us at our best, and our comically worst. So, pull up a seat by the fire – The Stone Hill All-Stars, with their refreshing acoustic ensemble, have another world of stories to tell. Highly recommended.
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