Album Review ~ Rachel Ries: Without A Bird

There is an expression in golf: hitting it pure. Sometimes referred to as the hitting the “sweet spot”. It is when you strike the ball with your club perfectly. When your swing tempo is just right. When the ball sails away from you in the flight path you desired. And the ball ends up where you want it to.

Listening to Rachel Ries is like hitting pure shot after pure shot. Her second album Without A Bird is a flawless 10 song trip around the golf course. This South Dakota-born, now living under the L in Chicago, writes and records in her own style. If you were hunting for it in a record store, check in the Folk section. But there are elements of Jazz and Bluegrass. She calls it “Prairie Swing/City Folk”.

If you have yet to buy an album by an artist featured on The Late Greats, I implore you to support Rachel. She has done this record all on her own, creating her own record label (SoDak). Click the buy link below. Or maybe go she her on tour, as her live performances are entrancing, charismatic and could be the best show you see all year. Check her website for a complete list of dates.

Rating: Magnum Opus =
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness
(Confused about the ratings scale? Check out my sidebar.)

RIYL: Devon Sproule, Eilen Jewell or Feist

Listen:
Never You Mind
Fine, I’m Fine
Hands To Water

Further Study:
Website
myspace

More MP3s:
Hype Machine
elbo

Buy from CD Baby.

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