Richard Shindell – South of Delia

While Richard Shindell is rightly considered one of the finest singer/songwriters of his generation, he’s always had an eye (and ear) for great songs by other writers and has included songs in his live shows, placed the occasional cover on his albums and recorded the Cry Cry Cry disc with Lucy Kaplansky and Dar Williams which celebrated the songs of contemporary writers.

South of Delia’s 12 songs are drawn from a good mixture of sources including bona-fide legends (Dylan & Guthrie), excellent contemporary writers (Josh Ritter & Jeffrey Foucault) and there are a couple of “trad arrs” present to complete a thoughtful selection of tracks.

His own songs may be missing, but his superb guitar playing, strong vocals and ‘musicality’ is very much present – his ear for an arrangement has always been very strong but ‘Delia’ represents a high watermark.  The construction of the songs feels natural but it’s obvious much love, time and effort has been put into the arrangements and production to achieve this balance.

Richard’s smooth and effortless guitar obviously dominates the disc, but there’s a wide variety of instrumentation including electric guitar, strings, bass and percussion, plus there’s some memorable backing vocals on many tracks.  The list of musicians and guests is full of exceptional talent and includes Richard Thompson, Eliza Gilkyson, Larry Campbell and Lucy Kaplansky.

The choice of material is superb with a good mix of well known and more ‘niche’ songs, and there are many memorable tracks including AP Carters beautifully simple melody of ‘The Storms are on the Ocean’ and his reading of Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ which is anything but anthemic and really highlights the bitter and stinging hardship contained in the lyrics.  For all the excellent songs, there are three real standouts; The Band’s ‘Acadian Driftwood’ is a great piece of writing of the Great Expulsion of Acadia by the British Army in 1755, Shindell’s reading is moving and full of feeling.  Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) is a Guthrie protest poem dealing with the crash of a plane carrying 28 illegal immigrant who were being deported back to Mexico, and the subsequent media coverage that referred to the dead workers only as “deportees”, it’s a powerful and moving song and the addition of Eliza Gilkyson on backing vocals really adds to the impact.  The third of the three standouts is Scottish/Australian Harry Robertson’s ‘The Humpback Whale’, although Richard’s reading owes much to Nic Jones’ version of the track from his ‘Penguin Eggs’ disc.  It’s a song about the thankfully almost eradicated practice of whale hunting and as a piece of social history songwriting it’s a real tour de force; Richard’s nylon strung guitar and the electric guitar of Richard Thompson create the drama the song deserves.

‘South of Delia’ is a superb disc; great songs, superb musicians and some of the classiest, restrained and appropriate production you could wish for.  Essential and not to be missed.

SHINDELL RICHARD - SOUTH OF DELIA