Most people know
Matraca Berg
as an accomplished songwriter who's penned hits for
Dusty Springfield
,
Linda Ronstadt
the Dixie Chicks
Patty Loveless
Deanna Carter
Trisha Yearwood
Gretchen Wilson
, and more. Fewer know her as an unclassifiable but utterly classy singer/songwriter and recording artist who issued a handful of of excellent but unclassifiable albums between 1990 and 1997 on
RCA
and
Rising Tide
.
The Dreaming Fields
, issued on the reputable established indie
Dualtone
, is
Berg
's first record in 14 years. She wrote or co-wrote everything here. It showcases all of her strengths -- as a songwriter and as a vocalist. It was self-produced and recorded with a small group of friends, who understand the plaintive power in
's voice; they empathetically underscore her lyrics with only what is necessary. It's so refreshing to hear guitars -- acoustic, electric and pedal steel --and drums sound like nothing but themselves. The sound here is somewhat reminiscent of
Emmylou Harris
'
Pieces of the Sky
in its sonic footprint; its songs are poetry with light and shadow in equal but uneasy balance. Check the lonesome shuffle in
"If I Had Wings,"
with its lilting country gospel undertones and the depth of loneliness in the grain of
's voice. The heartbreak in the acoustically framed
"You and Tequila"
is the Nashville equivalent of
Don Henley
's,
Bernie Leadon
's, and
Glenn Frey
's finest early moments (the comparison is made more poignant because
is writing about Hollywood). She evokes total surrender to the thing which is greater than we are: poison love, but her protagonist will survive because she can walk away. The sultry minor-key blues of
"Your Husband's Cheating on Us"
is a unique perspective on infidelity from the "other woman"'s point of view. The title track is a piano and cello-driven ballad that suggests a modern paean akin to
Stephen Foster
's
"Hard Times Come Again No More."
(That's as high a compliment as anyone can pay a 21st century song.)
"Fall Again"
is a searing, naked love song made all the more powerful because its protagonist is singing to an absent beloved. The late
Lowell George
would have been proud to sing and play on
"Oh Cumberland."
"South of Heaven"
is the finest antiwar song to come from the Afghanistan/Iraq War era because it refuses to preach. Ultimately,
is a deeply moving, gloriously articulated album that should not only reawaken the interest of fans, but should win
a multitude of new ones. ~ Thom Jurek