From Toy Heart to Broken Heart, the music of Hannah Johnson
has always been rooted in the past and free of any compromise. However,
Hannah frequently rejects the populist retro revivalist path, preferring to
come across as an astute historian hell bent on being a contemporary custodian
of a timeless style. In a first major solo outing since taking an alternative
path to what formed her first decade of making commercial music, Hannah has
teamed up with a number of established players to conjure up a highly
infectious collection of tunes perfectly encapsulating the soul of traditional
country music. SHAKEN can take its name from a multitude of experiences of both
sides of the emotional divide, but in this instance it clearly houses eleven
cuts that fully succeed in carrying out the mission statement of an artist
driven by her own heart and instinct.
While local gigs are generally billed as Hannah Johnson & the Broken Hearts, a significant switch for the album release is to slim down the artist title. Hannah is though joined on the album by her resident Broken Hearts:
father Stewart on his distinctive pedal steel and Chris Shirley on electric
guitar and tic tac bass. To boost the authenticity of this album, Hannah headed
to Austin Texas from her home in Birmingham UK to record eleven songs at
Ameripolitan Studios to tap into the local talent; an apt location in these
interesting times for the fight to own the soul of real country music. With the
right ingredients, it comes to little surprise that the contents of this record
are spot on, making it a valuable release, especially when you’re seeking for
such exponents on the UK music scene.
It is of further little surprise when you delve deeper into
the record to identify that the tunes consist of three original songs and the
remainder interpretations of work from a bygone age. The word ‘cover’ doesn’t
seem appropriate in this context as the songs are carefully selected, not
driven by courting popular appeal and providing a perfect fit for how Hannah
wants to portray this current phase of her career.
While the names Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and Roger Miller
hardly have a negative impact on a country record, the song selection avoids
the usual suspects and if anything, getting to grips with this record can turn
into a historical investigative exercise. Another successful aspect of this
album is the way the three originals blend into the older material thus giving
credence that Hannah can still excel in this field. (‘The Captain’ remains a
tremendous piece of song writing from the Toy Hearts days). ‘Nowhere Train’, ‘Morning Cocktail’ and ‘Your
Girlfriend Hates Me’ are strategically planted within the first four tracks
in the running order, with the first one initially coming across as the
strongest of the trio.
Elsewhere on the album, a version of Charley Patton’s ‘Trouble in Mind’ and a delightful rendition
of ‘West Texas Lullaby’ make
substantial cases for being high spots. Standards rarely dip
throughout the near forty-minute spin of this album, which gets its UK bow in
early July before Hannah heads to Austin to push it further including a launch night
at the famed Continental Club.
Alongside Hannah’s trademark husky vocals and the stellar
complete line up of pickers, players and harmonisers, credit must also be
guided towards the pedal steel playing of Birmingham’s own legend in this field:
Stewart Johnson. His upfront backing role on this instrument has always been a
delight to witness, especially when his two daughters took the Toy Hearts general
sound away from Bluegrass and into a heavily Bob Wills influenced Western Swing
direction. Of course, the music of the Texas music pioneer is celebrated on
this record with a version of ‘Sooner or
Later’.
SHAKEN is no record of ‘work-in-progress’ status, it is Hannah
Johnson doing what she does best and very well. It is ready made to jump onto
your turntable, slide into your CD player or find a prominent position on your
device (filed under ‘country’ of course).
www.hjbrokenhearts.com