One of the benefits of this writing gig is I get exposed to musicians who have loads of talent, but aren’t well known outside their corner of the world. A great example of that is Oregon-based Kristen Grainger & True North. They just released their latest album, Fear of Falling Stars. Weaving between folk and bluegrass, their vocal harmonies and restrained instrumental approach seem to guide the style organically rather than leading with some notion of what a song should sound like.
A lot of the record is about relationships, or lack of them, as led by Don’t Take Me Back. The band’s lush vocals belie a stark realization that even if a momentary impulse suggests otherwise, it’s time to go separate ways. Across the Mountains shows the band in full bluegrass mode in a tale of betrayal where revenge burns the figurative home to the ground. At the opposite end of the spectrum, where the flame never even gets lit, is What Might Have Been, a classic story of youth and the shyness that relegates even a moment’s interaction to the stuff of dreams. It has a definite bluegrass dancehall feel, although two-stepping to bluegrass might seem an unlikely connection.
It’s not all sadness and regret. The Avalanche is a love song from primary songwriter and vocalist Grainger to her guitar/banjo/stringed-instruments-of-all-type playing husband, Dan Wetzel. In what could be one of the memorable lines about being lovestruck ever, she notes, “I won’t soon forget the day I slipped into the Milky Way”. Wetzel returns the favor in It’s the Little Things. A simple country waltz it nonetheless makes clear how a lifelong relationship becomes defined by the everlasting joy of normal. Also relating to some of the usually mundane things in life is Stop Me If I Told You This Before, where Grainger relates how pandemic calls to her mom helped reclaim some normality.
With seven full length albums under their belt, Kristen Grainger & True North have honed their sound for over a decade across the Pacific Northwest. With the kind of harmonies and instrumentation you’d expect from a folk/bluegrass band, they generally eschew flashy solos and vocal antics. Focusing on substance over style, they leave a sound that sticks with you as a measure of acoustic string band quality, and Fear of Falling Stars continues that tradition.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.