I’ve heard it said multiple times that a musician’s professional and personal lives become more and more intertwined over the years. I suppose that just makes sense when your job is touching people’s inner feelings. In the case of North Caroline born-and-raised Keturah Allgood, professional and personal merge in a relentless drive for compassion and kindness. That becomes clear in her third release, an album called Shine. Despite close relationships where she saw a lot mental anguish and pain, Allgood displays a never-ending optimism. Hence the record’s name.
That outlook clearly informs Peaceful Warriors, a singer-songwriter celebration about believing love and trust will triumph, and if that means choosing a little naivety over becoming cynical, so be it. Allgood’s powerful vocals on Sing Baby Sing could generate a classic movie scene, with piano and vocal telling the story of being bombarded with naysayers, but keeping up the dream nonetheless. It was inspired and encouraged by Allgood’s mentor, Sarah Siskind. Radio is more of an upbeat pop song about putting in the earbuds and just shutting out the bad stuff. At the other end of the emotional spectrum is the title track. More serious in both vocals and instrumentals, it slowly builds and becomes a protest anthem for the have-nots against the haves.
Beautiful You is a love song in the truest sense, where “all I see is you”. Instrumentally, there’s a lot going on, but it’s all so subtle it leaves a simpler impression. Down the Line is another example of the power in Allgood’s voice. It took her 16 years to get it where she wanted, and during that time morphed from being about a lover to about being a musician. The Show also plows that ground, as a pop ballad about the conflict of wanting to go back home but dedicated to give the audiences what they paid for before the journey can begin. The most raucous song on the album is Jug O’Shine, dedicated to Keturah’s great-grandfather and his love of “sittin’ around the fire, pickin’ on six strings.”
Given Keturah Allgood’s general outlook on life, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a record becoming sappy and superfluous. Fortunately she’s self-aware enough to trust her producers and fellow musicians to do what they do best, adding layers and complexity. That ends up making Shine one of the most joyful and uplifting folk records I’ve heard in some time.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.