Natalie Hemby – Pins And Needles (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:18 minutes | 817 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fantasy
On her second album, a country singer-songwriter accustomed to crafting songs for artists like Miranda Lambert and Lee Ann Womack finds her own voice…
Natalie Hemby has Grammy and ACM awards and five No. 1 songs—but you might not know who she is. Until recently, the Nashville-raised songwriter has mostly been behind behind the scenes, writing with and for the star-studded likes of Little Big Town, Lady A, Jon Pardi, Kelly Clarkson, Carly Pearce, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Lady Gaga (for the A Star Is Born soundtrack), Kacey Musgraves (including that singer’s signature “Rainbow”) and, frequently, Miranda Lambert (including “Bluebird”). In 2019, she and her lovely alto stepped into the spotlight as a member of the supergroup quartet the Highwomen, along with the much more high-profile Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires. Although Hemby released her debut in 2017, it’s her new album that will surely bring her the attention she deserves. Like her Highwomen compatriots, she comfortably blurs the lines of country, rock and pop. Hemby has said she was influenced by the Lilith Fair scene of the late ’90s, and she would absolutely fit in on a lineup with Paula Cole, Joan Osborne, Shawn Colvin and—especially—Sheryl Crow. In fact, Crow feels like the patron saint of this record, especially on songs such as the pedal steel-haunted “New Madrid,” canyon-rocking “Heroes” (with excellent Joe Walsh-esque guitar) and jangling “Pinwheel.” If it seems like this album should be called, I don’t know, Wednesday Night Music Club, hey, it’s a big compliment. Pins and Needles also raises a fascinating question about how much a songwriter informs a performer versus writing for them. The title track has a badass bluesy strut to it, and when you find out it was written with (and, originally, for) Brothers Osborne, it makes perfect sense. The same goes for “Banshee,” which applies a mischievous, slinky guitar to a story about a widowed ghost trying to steal the narrator’s love, and the self-deprecating sass (given a caramel-rich tone by the Allman Brothers’ Chuck Leavell on Hammond B3) of “It Takes One to Know One”—both written with Miranda Lambert. You can totally imagine those acts performing the songs, but Hemby owns them with remarkable charisma. Catchy “Radio Silence” is made for a heartbreaking TV-drama breakup scene, and the swaggering “Hardest Part About Business” (with banjo courtesy of Hemby’s husband and producer, Mike Wrucke) is like a modern update of “9 to 5” office politics: “Hear no evil but you’re gonna see/ It’s better if you work alone/ Because the hardest part about business/ Is minding your own.” And if Crow doesn’t cover the slow-burn “Last Resort,” it’s a crime. – Shelly Ridenour
Tracklist:
01. Natalie Hemby – Heroes (03:13)
02. Natalie Hemby – New Madrid (03:58)
03. Natalie Hemby – Pins And Needles (02:50)
04. Natalie Hemby – Lake Air (04:29)
05. Natalie Hemby – Hardest Part About Business (03:37)
06. Natalie Hemby – Banshee (03:48)
07. Natalie Hemby – Radio Silence (03:42)
08. Natalie Hemby – Heart Condition (03:50)
09. Natalie Hemby – Pinwheel (03:54)
10. Natalie Hemby – It Takes One To Know One (02:56)
11. Natalie Hemby – Last Resort (03:56)
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