Album Review: Becky Schlegel – Dandelion

Imagine giving Jewel some meaningful songs to sing, surrounding her with some of Nashville’s best acoustic musicians and then letting her cut loose on a bluegrass tangent. That just might be comparable to Becky Schlegel’s terrific new album Dandelion. Schlegel’s voice flitters and floats like a dandelion on a breeze. Her vocals can hush to a whisper at times and then fly up into a falsetto–sometimes in the same line. Combined with extremely strong acoustic bluegrass(ish) musicianship from the likes of Randy Kohrs’ poignant resonator guitar work, it’s darned near perfect.

“So Embarrassing” tells the tale of an ex coming back to her former home a week after break-up, only to find her once-lover already with another woman. It’s emotional, heart-wrenching and beautiful all at the same time. Likewise, “When it Rains” weaves lust, loneliness, sexual fulfillment and pity together in a brilliantly written track about a waitress and her “sometimes” trucker lover. “Reunion” follows the script of a modern day “Same Old Lang Syne,” with two high school loves making good on a twenty-years-after-graduation promise to meet if they hadn’t found another–but not before making us feel the anticipation and trepidation that he might not show. This album makes up one of my favorites of the year so far.