Search - Julie Miller :: Blue Pony

Appalachian Spring ... Summer, Autumn and Winter

Martyn Richard Jones | Cordoba, Spain | 04/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hello Music Fans,There's something quite satisfying, stunning and yet wholesome about traditional song-writing combined with the sophistication and professionalism of modern arrangements and the talent and poise of a great bunch of contemporary artists that made this album possible.One of the great enigmas of contemporary art is in how to capture the intangible aspects of personal ways of seeing things, whether it is of pastoral themes, virtual communities or sordid city life, and then project what one wishes to say about these things in a way that is both commercially attractive and also is fairly faithful to the idea or the notion of what one might wish to say.So, for example, the down to earthiness is of course all tinged with an ever present rosy glow or tinted for the tastes of the modern consumer, even the most potentially bleak of renditions, but this makes sense, after all, the degrees to which we can go to say what we want say to has to go hand in hand with the ability of the person who is listening to feel the right degree of empathy with what we have to say - too much, and we make the listener depressed beyond belief, too little, and we don't convey the idea that our hearts and minds are in what we do, sure it's a balancing act, and Judie Miller pulls it off to perfection.This album has found the saddle point between too much and too little, between imagination and realism, between homeliness and staged professionalism - and it works well.The songs are folksy, but not so folksy as to be corny, the spirituality of the songs are just enough to be supported by an agnostic without being a pain in the principles, and the musicality outshines everything else to make the whole experience worthwhile - believer or not.Personally, I really liked the entry track "Kiss on the lips", which rocks quite nicely in an Appalachian sort of way, and "My blue pony", which is really pretty, and for me at least, evokes memories of childhood and innocence lost and log cabins and smoky chimneys and playing with friends in Elysium fields .Judie Miller goes from strength to strength and this album was a great start.Regards,Martyn R Jones
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Profound but not pretentious

B. Holder | Cedar Crest, NM United States | 05/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After repeated listenings, my eyes still tear up with joy when I hear Julie sing. And when singing with others (her husband Buddy, EmmyLou, Karen Peris, etc.), her vocal contribution soars all the way up to heaven. So much spirit, and all on a plastic disc. The songs are profound but not pretentious, and truly fun to sing along to; I recently saw Julie playing drums on a Tupperware bowl on "Austin City Limits". This is the best of the Americana genre -- "Forever My Beloved" is as eternal a song as you'll ever hear in the English language. If you're curious enough to read the reviews of this CD, take the chance and order it. You'll thank us later!"