In terms of Americana royalty – specifically when considering female artists – Colvin’s place at the top table alongside Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Griffin has long been assured. All four women make their presence felt on All Fall Down, either as harmony vocalists or co-writers, but it’s always Colvin running the show, distinguishing herself with one of the best albums of her already impressive career.
Recorded at the home of producer Buddy Miller, and bursting with the style and vibrancy he brought to Robert Plant’s 2010 album Band Of Joy, Colvin’s songs cut straight to the heart, be they personal ruminations (the crumbling romance of I Don’t Know You Anymore, the belated wisdom of Knowing What I Know Now) or the broader concerns of Change Is On The Way or the post-Katrina New Orleans paean The Neon Light Of The Saints, written for the TV drama Treme.
It could be argued that Colvin’s ice maiden voice lacks the breadth of expression we’ve come to expect from her contemporaries, such as Harris or Krauss, but, in some ways, its casually narrative properties serve the material best. Like the subtle instrumentation she’s used across all nine of her albums, the understatement exposes the fragile beauty of the songs, delivering them to us unadorned and supremely affecting.
