You’re no doubt familiar with the idea that two people know each other so well they can finish each other’s sentences. In the case of Nashville couple MaryBeth Zamer and Mike T. Lewis, also known as The Twangtown Paramours, they know each other so well they can finish each other’s songs. As MaryBeth notes, “I felt like I could interpret and deliver Mike’s songs the way he intended them to be.” You can hear that result on their latest album, The Wind Will Change Again. While their previous record explored an R&B and soul-influenced, full band Americana sound, this one goes back to their acoustic music roots.
The CD opens with Sincerely Yours No More, an uptempo country song about a burned out romance where she’s “leavin’ on a train bound for better.” Before She Found A Way is another tune about falling out of love, this time a folk ballad with fiddle providing just the right amount of sadness. Old Friends is a piano ballad about the value of long-time friends who still “know how to reach you when you hide away.” Mike takes the lead microphone on Part Of Me. It’s about how all the different events in our lives shape us, told from Mike’s point of view, including brief guitar riffs showing off his journey as an instrumentalist. One of those occasional stints is playing bass for Jimmy Dale Gilmore, and they do a magnificent cover of his Tonight I Think I’m Gonna Go Downtown.
For me, the highlights of the album are when the duo does one of their period pieces. A Room In Bordeaux is jazzy piano lounge number, with just the right amount of French accent provided by accordion, telling of starting a new life. Coupons & Cowboys is a melancholy folk ballad about dreaming of becoming a ballerina but ends up a waitress after “she ran off with the wrong man.” MaryBeth’s vocals add a weariness that layers authenticity onto a story that too often reflects reality. She imbues a longing tenderness on Stars Without A Heaven, inspired by a true story of a Jewish girl hidden from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. If it doesn’t tug on your heartstrings I have questions about your soul.
As I noted earlier, The Wind Will Change is a return to MaryBeth and Mike’s acoustic folk style of music. But that’s like saying a 20-year-old bourbon is just brown liquor. There are layer upon layer of subtle textures and flavors, surprising you a little with every sip. So next time the weather encourages an evening at home I strongly recommend curling up with the latest from The Twangtown Paramours.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.