Laura Cantrell
No Way There From Here

"No Way There From Here" by Laura Cantrell is a country album, something that on this side of the Atlantic causes more bewilderment or indifference, and it's a shame, at least in cases like this. Such a beautiful cover can't hide achy breaky hearts or other "amusing" at best, but often horrendously sappy white trash stuff; here you're on safe ground, "No Way There From Here" is country in substance, without certain annoying formal defects that confine the genre to a relatively "local" phenomenon, at least in terms of mass distribution. Take a singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice and a very down-to-earth approach; reflective but ultimately always light and optimistic, as well as straightforward and communicative, and add a classic country instrumentation, predominantly acoustic; that's all she needs, with some small embellishments here and there. And, as everyone knows, when a simple idea is skillfully executed, you can't go wrong.

Let's go back to the cover for a moment: an unspoiled landscape, not quite the classic Midwest prairie but the effect is the same. Almost unlimited space, nature, a horizon, a frontier to explore... aaah, romantic, and as American as it gets. Sorry, it's a visual imagery that strongly appeals to me, I dare say the only facet of the so-called American dream that truly fascinates me. And the content fully lives up to that artwork; relaxing, crystal clear, light music, without worries, country music, a perfect compromise between style and sobriety. The credit goes solely to Laura Cantrell, the sole author of all twelve songs on this 2014 album: born in 1967, born and raised in Nashville, beauty and charm like an actress from another era, a ringing yet soft voice: the timbre is very reminiscent of Emmylou Harris, but with a lighter and more fluid approach. "I'm gonna drink black coffee all night long until I write the perfect song, and I won't give up if chords are wrong and words don't fit a rhyme", sings Laura in "Beg Or Borrow Days", in my opinion one of the best tracks on the album: it is a promise fully kept, over and over again, perfect song after perfect song emerges... a perfect album.

Slow and uptempos alternate without a clear prevalence of one over the other, offering a wide range of sensations and nuances; this is another great merit, making "No Way There From Here" a smooth and never boring listen; the clear and serene panorama of "Starry Skies" and "Barely Said A Thing", "Glass Armour" with its lightness and fragility, expressed with bucolic candor, a title track somewhat in early Jackson Browne style, a wonderful melody, a slightly melancholic crescendo, masterfully emphasized by the electric guitar, and then a sentimental ballad, "tear-jerking" in an absolutely positive sense, like "Washday Blues", of absolute sweetness, fading into the soft, dreamy "Someday Sparrow", a perfect ending. But also a lot of cheerfulness, sparkling lines of piano or fiddle, engaging rhythms, "Driving Down Your Street" and "Can't Wait", in addition to the already mentioned and absolutely emblematic "Beg Or Borrow Days", "When It Comes To You", in a more bittersweet key, or the opening "All The Girls Are Complicated", with a touch of irony; "No Way There From Here" is, among other things, also a fun album, full of positive energy, in the end what it leaves is a smile; what more could you ask for? Nothing, absolutely nothing, "No Way There From Here" is a gem, a small masterpiece; a simple masterpiece, unpretentious, ordinary like the situations described in the lyrics.