I’ve heard many chefs wax poetically about how their success came not from 10,000-hour-developed technique or an encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s cuisines, but rather from the restraint needed to let really good ingredients showcase themselves. I get that same sense of coaxing the beautiful out of the basics from the latest album from Seattle-based duo, The W Lovers. For A Day Or A Lifetime is an acoustic collection of folk songs roughly themed around an appreciation for what life has give the couple, Fleur and Wesley Wood.
Creek And the Hills is a ballad with touch of bluegrass banjo flair. It’s a part autobiographical, part fictional reminisce about growing up near the water. Trickle In the Fog is similarly reminiscent in its spirit, except from the opposite perspective of wondering what the people were like who once stood where you are now. Jeanne’s Lilac epitomizes the idea of enjoying the small things in life to a mid tempo waltz cadence. You And I features both voices harmonizing the lead where “ain’t got a lot of money but we sure got a lot of love.” I Loved You Best is nothing more complex than a love song, and the extent one will go to for the other.
A number of songs took root from a 2019 roadtrip from Washington to North Carolina, along a circuitous route set up to take advantage of performance opportunities. The trip itself is documented in Roll Up the Highway, a fun ditty featuring some sweet acoustic bass and mandolin. Treasure Like Gold is almost a bluegrass ballad that’s a thank you note for the chance to spend some time alone at fan’s rental cabin in the woods. Dandelion Bouquets provides a bit of needed balance to all the sweetness and beauty. It relates the experience of winter in the Pacific Northwest, where “I ain’t seen the sunrise in a month of Sundays.” It’s also a reminder that sometimes you just have put on your big boy pants and power through the challenges. There’s some of that sentiment also in Little Ant, where the world looks like a dark January day and it’s best to focus on how to begin again.
Whether you’re a chef, a painter, or a musician, there’s an under appreciated art to keeping things simple. Add too many details and the beauty gets lost in the busyness. Leave too much out, and it’s just stark. The W Lovers have walked that line gorgeously on their new album For A Day Or A Lifetime and it’s just the thing for when you’re ready for some simply beautiful folk music.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.