Open Road, the third album from
singer/songwriter Stefanie Keys, draws from a deep well of musical influences
to make its impact on the listener. Keys’ artistic inclinations cover a wide
array of forms within the Americana genre – there are strong strains of rock
and roll, blues, folk, and country coloring this ten song work. It is natural
that, growing up around bluegrass music, Keys would pursue such ends, but her
muse couldn’t be confined. Keys surrounds herself with a first class collection
of musical collaborators, particularly Dave Shul on guitar. Shul provides
effective backing vocals throughout as well, but Keys carries much of the
album’s vocal work on her shoulders alone. She is the true star of Open Road,
but it is for much more than her singing alone. The songwriting on Open Road is
a cut above other efforts in the genre and will stay in the memory after it
ends.
The title track will certainly sound
lyrically familiar to longtime music fans, but Keys’ invocation of tropes isn’t
hollow and imitative. She enlivens these time-tested images with personality
and inspiration. Keys is a singer who is with every word and the clear-eyed
vision for phrasing she exhibits adds layers of meaning to the words. The band
dovetails their performance perfectly around her vocal and manages to lightly
touch on a variety of musical moods without ever reining the song into one
particular style. “No Tomorrow” is a much grittier and hard-hitting track than
the opener. The song’s message is a relatively common variation on the “carpe
diem” theme, but like the first song, Keys distinguishes it with the
white-knuckled passion she brings to her performance.
The relaxed and melodic grace of
“Sleeping Lady” might distract listeners from the song’s sturdy, economical
construction. There isn’t a wasted note in the song and Keys’ vocal carries the
fine lyrics with just the right emotional amplitude. A delicate mood sustains
the success of this song and pushing it too hard might have ruined its
potential. It builds to a particularly rousing finale. Her social consciousness
emerges some on “Cold Day”. She shows off more of her songwriting skills with
this track – few songwriters could write about these issues with such perfect
balance between powerful observational skills and personal resonance. The
musical arrangement finds its own perfect balance between atmospherics and
melodic strength. She fires up “Hey” with simmering and soulful blues vocals.
The light application of vocal effects helps strengthen the mood and the band
responds with a sympathetic performance that enriches her vocal.
“Highway to Your Soul” has an
unexpected anthemic quality and hits just as hard as the album’s second track
“No Tomorrow”. Keys unleashes the fires of hell itself with her vocal, but it
isn’t an unbridled desertion of technique as she shows considerable finesse
coupled with that passion during the verses. The album’s final great moment
comes with “Amos Crain”. It is obvious from the title that this is Keys’ nod to
the tradition of lyrical character study and it succeeds quite well because it
meets all of its benchmarks and offers something new. Her lyrics are subtle and
well-crafted enough that, ultimately, they reveal as much about the narrator as
they do Crain.
Open Road is a bracing and satisfying
musical experience. There are few singers working in any genre as skillful and
earthy as Stefanie Keys.
9 out of 10 stars
Joshua Stryde
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