Charlsey Etheridge is one of those all-too-often unsung talents ensnared in Nashville’s impersonal machinery that prioritizes billboard-style obviousness in songwriting rather than nuanced examinations of the human heart. It’s a borderline sin that she isn’t as big as any supposed marquee talent. She has a blink and you’ll miss her quality, as a result, and I’m enormously grateful that I caught up to her before 2023 concluded. Her new album Scars of Mine proves to be well worth the wait.
WEBSITE: https://www.charlseyetheridge.com
The title song and album opener certainly justify it. She opens the collection in a big way with a song that’s a statement of identity like no other out of the album’s eight originals and embraces the blues as only a Deep South native can or would. It’s a carefully considered track, in some ways, as Etheridge and her colleagues are careful to never let it become too predictably heavy-handed. It ranks as one of my favorite moments on the album.
“Rhythm of Love” reaches the same heights. Etheridge takes a different route to get there, however, eschewing the bluesy bombast of the opener in favor of a much more low-key approach. She successfully entwines three distinct threads, folk music, blues, and classic country into a coherent strand with shimmering acoustic guitar, harmonica, and fiddle, respectively. It’s one of the key tracks on this album and rightfully chosen as a single.
There are not many outright instrumental breaks in these songs so when one comes, it stands out. The piercing lead guitar tacked on to the second half of “Back to You” gives this piano-driven ballad added poignancy. I hear Etheridge’s voice, however, as its undisputed heart, however, and the nuance of her voice and lyrical phrasing are peak entries on an album brimming over with moments such as this.
“Did You?” reveals itself in a near-gossamer-like fashion throughout much of the song’s first half. It metamorphosizes at the midway point, however, into a stalwart country shuffle and receives a deeper vocal treatment thanks to male backing vocals that complement Etheridge’s voice without ever calling too much attention to himself. She achieves an easy-going stateliness with the track “Time” which boasts one of the album’s most memorable choruses. It’s likewise memorable, in my mind, for never lapsing into self-indulgence despite the potential for that given the song’s subject.
She pulls a musical rabbit out of her hat with the song “So Long”. Anyone who thinks that she can’t rock out with conviction when she wants to discover otherwise during this track. More thunderous guitar work helps underscore that point. There’s an excellent mix of texture and tempos defining this album and even her predilection towards balladry never reduces the release to a predictable collection of ultimately “samey” fare. Charlsey Etheridge’s Scars of Mine plants a flag for this songwriter as one of the most thoughtful composers today working in this vein. The intimacy of these songs will cut into you and draw blood, but you’ll be grateful for the experience.
Garth Thomas