A great one in the murder ballad tradition. Off of 1998’s Hell Among the Yearlings album, “Caleb Meyer” finds Welch and Rawlings tearing it up in a way that’s become more and more rare for them. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll hear few complaints from me about their slower, more stately work. 2001’s Time (The Revelator), characterized by long, hypnotic songs, keeps creeping up the list of my favorite albums ever (in the Top 3 as of now). It’s easily my favorite album of the 2000’s.
To see Welch and Rawlings live is to see a fine-tuned show marked by true chemistry. There’ s the genuinely funny banter, and the sympathetic playing that finds Welch laying down a rock-solid foundation while Rawlings goes off on his patented lickety-split runs (on the flip side, much of Rawlings’s playing is also in service of Welch’s melodies). They have a lot of great songs, and a lot of fan favorites. Few of them, though, whip the crowd into a fervor like this one. Maybe it’s the pace. Maybe it’s the harmonies. Maybe it’s the death and the ghosts. Most likely, it’s all of them coming together in one of Welch and Rawlings’s most inspired songs.
Leave a comment