Artist: Susan Shann
Album: Reckless Abandon
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 10.1.18
A self-described “Earth Mama,” with a hippie aura about her, folk songbird Susan Shann simply and earnestly tackles heavy subjects such as a battle-scarred veteran’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and potential ecological catastrophe on her latest album, Reckless Abandon. There is a lighter side to Shann’s intimate acoustic musings, however.
Blessed with a captivating voice, Shann comes off as a less polished, but more direct version of Shawn Colvin as she gracefully plucks melodic melancholy from her six-string guitar in profoundly moving songs such as “Ordinary Miracles” and “Impossible Beauty.” Tender and full of heartfelt empathy, “Stand Down” is even more stark and affecting, as Shann tells of a soldier who sadly cannot erase the ghastly horrors of war from his mind. On the breezy, soaring “Price of Heaven (Song for Bristol Bay),” Shann stirs the soul with an environmental call to arms, as she pleads for protection of a place of natural wonder. Her heart, it seems, is always in the right place.
A saucier, more brazen Shann emerges from the lighthearted, bluesy Americana of “Homemade Lovin’” and its homey, sexual swagger, while “Helluva Ride” wistfully says farewell with a twinkle in its eye. Hope and optimism spring from “The Final Word (Is Gonna Be Love),” as Shann fashions a tune reminiscent of Eric Clapton’s “Change the World” from a Dr. Martin Luther King quote, and it can heal. Producer Chip Martin sanded off the rough edges to give sterling definition and character to Shann’s vocals and uncomplicated acoustic guitar designs – perfect for an evening of quiet meditation and soul searching.
—Peter Lindblad
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