Artist: Tim Grimm and the Family Band
Album: A Stranger in This Time
Label: Vault Records
Release Date: 03.01.2018
The very definition of folk singer, Tim Grimm tells stories which make listeners believe he is baring his soul to us. Maybe he is, I don’t know or care: the intensity and attention to detail in his stories bring every song to life as vividly as the best songsmiths, writers like Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and Steve Earle.
Lines like “I have moved through these golden fields, with my lover by my side and a dog at our heels” bring his images into crystal-clear focus. Mostly, Grimm’s voice is musical, but it turns into gritty sandpaper on political topics, as on “Gonna Be Great,” where Grimm scratches out “We have to pick up the pieces, write a new song, and wonder, What the Hell went wrong?” He talks his way through “Thirteen Years,” the detailed story of three generations, a walnut tree and Grimm’s guitar, while “Finding Home” is a tender duet.
The Grimm Family band is exactly that: Tim, Jan Lucas, Connor and Jackson Grimm, and their playing on guitar, bass, banjo, mando is top-notch, clear and firm, especially the delicate fingerpicking. Guest Hanna Linn adds a welcome fiddle, especially on “So Strong.”
As good as the delivery may be, the songwriting stands front and center on A Stranger in This Time. Tim Grimm paints stories with rare and intense color and musicality. Listen, and learn.
—Suzanne Cadgène
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