Carol Markstrom
Mile After Mile
Carol Markstrom continues to reshape her artistic parameters in her new not-all-Western release. Listeners who may have become complacent with Markstrom’s smoother ballad style from her last album may note she occasionally employs a more forceful delivery this time. For me it’s reminiscent of certain protest folk from the sixties. Some complex lyric elements enhance that effect, yet a reasonable flow within the arrangements is generally maintained.
Picks include “Dust Of Palomas” (her writer’s block buster inspired by a blustery day spent there), “Best Time Of The Day” (from a Tim Cox oil seen on an event poster), “Perfect” (which Markstrom calls her ‘song of personal completion’), “Miner’s Candle” (a co-write with Manuela Schneider) and her cover of a Joy Williams/John Paul White/CharliePeacock song “Devil’s Backbone.” Top players including Jon Chandler and Cody Braun add greatly to the effort. Her growing fan base should welcome this one into the fold. Twelve tracks.
CD: available through CarolMarkstromMusic.com
– by Rick Huff
1. Dust of Palomas
2. Devil’s Backbone
3. Rollin’ in Time
4. No Stone Unturned
5. Mile After Mile
6. Best Time of the Day
7. Fooled into Love
8. Miner’s Candle
9. Seekers
10. I Now Understand
11. On the Ridgeline
12. Perfect