Medium Cool and TRG Records
Marlee MacLeod
Great songsmiths and great authors have more than a few things in common. They've usually had enough of a life behind them to come off with some degree of authenticity, they have the natural ability to talk to (not at) their audience, and, most importantly, they draw you into a tale until it's no longer a story but rather an experience you carry with you like one of your own memories. Twin Cities transplant (via Alabama and Georgia) Marlee MacLeod's Peter Jesperson -produced debut release, Drive Too Fast, reads like a collection of all-American novellas you grimly accepted as required reading in college and then read and reread until the cover fell off and its smudged and stained pages were rubbed as soft and fuzzy as a sheet of dryer lint.
While I hesitate to analyze this record by its title and cover art (a 50s pink Dodge with sleek tail fins and a license plate that reads MED COOL) or the picture on the cd (a speedometer clocked in at a smooth 115 mph), it doesn't take much imagination to feel the telephone poles swishing by as the first track, "Lie To Me" glides in on a twang and a prayer. The title track is obvious, but belies its own message at a slow, crafty pace. "Waltz Across Texas" (featuring ex-Mat Slim Dunlap) is a brittle pick-fest with a shit-kicker beat and "Que Sera Sera" attitude, and "Hurricane Man" sends down-South braggadocio ripping through Midwestern sentimentality like a special effect from Twister. The should-be radio single "Maybe If I" would fit snugly on any alterna-playlist between Jennifer Trynin and Ani DiFranco, and if the suits in Trashville, Tennessee had any brains at all, "Under the Sun" would be all over the yokel airwaves. It's a good thing this is a cd because I have a feeling if it was on vinyl, it wouldn't be long before the grooves wore down and the jacket became as disheveled and dog-eared as my copy of Greil Marcus' Mystery Train.Ms.
MacLeod's second and latest release, Favorite Ball and Chain (produced by John "Strawberry" Fields), proves to be a logical progression on her perpetual road trip of the heart, albeit after a few detours through some places not quite as wholesome as the rural routes and backroads of Drive Too Fast. The self-confidence and honest bitterness running through this record are no less of a sensation than a hard slug in the gut and serve to cement Marlee's sometimes (seemingly) reluctant foray into the glutted 90s pop arena as an admirable and respected contender for any of her overplayed peers. A dependable and almost warm bottom end provided by bassist Rob Veal and drummer John Crist (of the highly underrated Dashboard Saviors) adds chunky life to these sweetly crooned pearls of wisdom and heartache and a smattering of assorted instruments like mandolin, viola, dulcimer, and Wurlitzer tops them off with just a hint of spice."Las Vegas," the opener, is a bouncy jangler dripping with black humor, combining an absolutely unforgettable guitar riff with the resignation of lyrics like, "Of all the god-forsaken places, why'd you have to end up in Las Vegas?" made all the more poignant by the realization that the singer is actually griping at a friend who wanted to be buried in Las Vegas. ("You could spend eternity on your ex-husband's mantelpiece / you could go the desert route with all the other nuclear fallout...") "Nothing Up My Sleeve" is a hypnotic piece of pop-folklore, the kind sung outta the side of your mouth with yer tongue in cheek, and "Nobody To Me"--besides being the most oft-played song on my stereo last month--is one of the smartest, most spiteful and deserved slap in the face to an indie sellout since Mary Lou Lord's "His Indie World," and a far better tune. It should be played on headphones to every bloated, Alanis Morrisette's-ass-kissing radio programmer in America while they sleep, dreaming smugly of the thousands of teen spirits buying the latest flavor at Wal-Mart with dad's Visa Gold. ("A sweetheart to your lawyer, baby to the Rolling Stone, you're nobody to me...") As cliched as it may sound, there's no place for Marlee MacLeod to go but up, and as for me, well...if music is my prison of choice, then I guess I've found my Favorite Ball and Chain.
- by Tom Hallett, Squealer via the Alabama Music Office
released: September 17, 1993
Medium Cool Records - MCR 89251
(CD - only)
Marlee MacLeod
Drive Too Fast
Marlee MacLeod - Guitars, Organ, Vocals
Dave Domizi - Guitar (Bass)
Slim Dunlap - Guitar (Electric)
John Keane - Guitar (Steel)
Ben Mize - Drums
William Tonks - Dobro, Guitar (Electric)
Produced by Peter Jesperson
Engineered in Athens, GA by John Keane at the John Keane Studio
Mixed in Minneapolis, MN at Funkytown by John "Strawberry" Fields, Peter Jesperson and Marlee MacLeod
released: 1995
Medium Cool Records - MCR 89284
(CD - only)
Marlee MacLeod
Favorite Ball Chain
Marlee MacLeod - Dulcimer, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Vocals
Rob Veal - Bass
John Crist - Drums, Shaker
John "Strawberry" Fields- Guitar, Organ
Produced by Marlee MacLeod and John "Strawberry" Fields
Engineered by: Mark Cooper and John "Strawberry" Fields
released: 23 September 1997
TRG Records - TRG 89368
(CD - only)
Marlee MacLeod
Vertigo
Marlee MacLeod - Vocals, Guitar, Trumpet
John “Strawberry” Fields - Bass, Accordion, Organ
Ken Chastain - Bass, Percussion
John Crist - Drums
Michael Bland -Drums
Produced by: John “Strawberry Fields” and Marlee Macleod
recorded and mixed by, John “Strawberry” Fields
Marlee MacLeod: Facebook