6/1/2009

Michael Cote

Guitarist and singer Mary Flower, having carved a niche for herself in the Pacific Northwest after spending three decades in Colorado, embraces a gentle brand of blues that captures the warmth and power that come from simplicity, On Bridges, Flower's first album recorded in her current hometown of Portland, Oregon, her exquisite fingerpicking and expressive slide guitar are augmented by minimal but integral accompaniment.

Flower could have recorded these songs with just her voice and guitar - the way she's performed for years at folk clubs - but the small group combos and duos she's assembles here lift the performances from the work of a troubadour (as leadoff track "Rhythm of the Road" alludes) to a production that will stand up to repeated spins. Witness Mark Vehrencamp's tuba anchoring the bass line on four cuts, including "The Ghost of the St. Louis Blues," on which Flower's guitar and voice are also accompanied by soprano sax, clarinet, and piano. Then there are the lush vocal harmonies of Duffy Bishop and Rebecca Kilgore on "There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears," amplifying the bittersweet vulnerability of Flower's lead.

Sometimes it's just Flower and one other player: her lap slide guitar to Jesse Withers' string bass on "Slow Lane to Glory," her fingerpicking to Tim O'Brien's fiddling on "Up a Lazy River." Original instrumentals ("Columbia River Rag," "Daughter of Contortion") give Flower a showcase for her deft guitar work and serve as segues between group performances. In the age of single-song digital downloads, it's great to see so much attention paid to sequencing and pace for old-school fans who enjoy albums as entities unto themselves.

That Flower moved from temperate Colorado - the state brags of more than 300 days of sunshine a year - to a rainier climate (saluted here on the original "Portland Town") seems fitting when you consider how soothing these performances are while you're staring outside at a dreary drizzle. Truly, blues for what ails you.