This is a truly succulent platter. On display here is Cary’s handsome, full-bodied, soprano voice, along with her developing skill with the pen. And, of course, a bit of her fiddle. Chris Stamey returns (as does Sorry) from the Waltzie EP to help build just the right settings.
Finding a place of prominence is the briefly, one-time bandmate Mike Daly, who brings his arsenal of guitars and tweaks of songs. As with Mr. McCreedy’s disc the tunes here are just abut all touched with melancholy. Here they envelop you in a warm blanket with which to wrap yourself and that bottle of bourbon up in as PM rolls into AM.
Right from the start Shallow Heart, Shallow Water introduces you to all of the above in the guise of a yearning, keening plaint, with a lilting melody and a firm, but unobtrusive, mid-tempo rhythm of many colors. The lament What Will You Do? is a showcase for Cary’s voice, which takes total control of the heartstrings as the chorus arises.
The following Thick Walls Down builds from chugging guitars, 4/4 rhythm, and just a tinge of horns, into a rocking little number. The horns are more of a presence on Too Many Keys, giving a Muscle Shoals tone to the chorus.
The thick layering of everything but the kitchen sink, from handclaps to vibes to pedal steel to piano, gives Pony a quasi-Spectorian veneer, but at it’s core, if it was only just Cary’s voice, it would still be achingly beautiful.
I don’t know if they all come this way, but the copy I got came with a four song, 3” bonus EP. Found on it is a stark duet with Ryan Adams, The Battle, that’s just their voices, and her fiddle and his acoustic guitar; an unreleased number called Trickle Of Whiskey, and an alternate version of The Fair which is matched with a Staxian reprise called Keys To The Fair gruffly narrated by the Backsliders’ Chip Robinson.
[Released by Yep Roc 2002]
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