Carolina is an album of exceptional beauty.
I don’t mean to say that this is a carefully crafted Old Master hung up somewhere in the Met. It’s more like a painting from the Hudson River School: thoughtfully composed, but earthy and a little messy. It’s honest, restrained in the right places, and joyful exuberant everywhere else.
The trio’s songs of heartbreak and revenge complement each other well. Normally I don’t love old-timey music, but there’s something about Redleg Husky’s sparing use of hammerclaw banjo and judicious insertion of musical saws (which I’ve loved since reviewing AxeHammerSaw) that make their music sound timeless and immediate. They’re not breaking out the old stuff just to say they can — they’re building on it.
Carolina is touching on many levels. It’s by far one of my favorite albums of the year.