Buoyed by the success of her 2017 powerful, acclaimed Lucky Strike, Nashville-based Mary Bragg feels more confident than ever diving into raw, sometimes unhinged honesty in her songs. She’s always been a terrific writer on both her own projects and those of fellow songwriting friends like Becky Warren. The title Violets As Camouflage suggests this is far from light, fluffy flair. Bragg has a beautiful voice too, somewhere between an alto and soprano, breathy, evocative and pure.
Bragg says, “I grew up the South, where it’s not super common to come right out and say what you feel or to talk openly about your intimate emotional experiences. The, further along, I get on my quest as an artist, though, the more natural it starts to feel. Writing this album was part of my skin shedding.”
The album was recorded in Bragg’s home studio with 52 minutes of 14 tracks that are blunt but mostly strikingly beautiful. She weaves in and out of classic country and folk stylings. She has a keen observant eye and limitless empathy as she paints characters aching in pain, longing, and loneliness. They wrestle with being stoic or surrendering to the hardship and struggle. While Bragg tracked much of the album alone late at night to embrace the quietude, she didn’t at all go alone in the project. She teamed with a host of her favorite songwriters – Grammy nominees Steve Seskin and Bill DeMain, as well as younger contemporaries like Caroline Spence and Robby Hecht to co-write 75 new songs, from which these are culled.
Even though Bragg is tremendously humble, she is well acknowledged as one of the best songwriters in town. As such, she can draw in some of the best roots musicians as she does here with guitarist/pedal steel player (Rich Hinman (Ben Kweller, Rosanne Cash, Caitlin Canty), bassist Jimmy Sullivan (Lee Ann Womack, Mark Collie), guitarist Anthony da Costa (Aife O’Donovan Sarah Jarosz), and fiddler Kristin Weber (Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church) among the many. Including guest vocalists like Becky Warren, twelve musicians receive credits. Drummer Jordan Perlson (Kaki King, Becca Stevens) added the rhythms in his own studio. The musicians are never dominant. They are clearly in support of the song but having seen Rich Hinman live on a pedal steel, his deft handling of that instrument gives these tunes a special sheen.
The lead track is a knockout. Braggs sounds incredibly seductive with a tune that seems timeless. It’s “I Thought You Were Somebody Else” that forms the album title with this lyric – “Were the violets, long letters just camouflage?” as she writes cleverly about deceit and disguise. Bragg is deep, expressing the feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence with words. She lets us know about the stories we tell ourselves, the tendency to hear only what we want to hear. That’s why people are increasingly drawn to her because many of these thoughts hit home. They’re hard to even think about, let alone sing about.
The album does have some lighter moments such as the country tune “You Can Trouble Me Anytime” and although the cello-imbued, dark “You Rescue Me” sets a serious tone, it’s a potent love song. “Runaway Town” borders on rock n’ roll. “More Than You Do” bristles with optimism from its opening line, “Grandma Mary is 79, still got that fire in her eye” to the summoning of childhood games in the middle lyrics.
In “This Feeling” Bragg looks at depression, the toll it takes, and mustering the strength to persevere. “The Right Track” assures us that hard work and faith will eventually pay off. The mourning fiddle-driven “Fixed” is about skewed self-perceptions that girls battle growing up, leaving it on an optimistic note as she does on most of them. Her main message is about empowerment. We hear it in “The Highest Tower,” about trauma and recovery, and perhaps, along with the opener, her strongest vocal performance. “A Little Less” is about taking steps toward self-reliance. The closer is appropriate too. “More Than You Do” is about Bragg’s grandmother for whom she’s named. It’s about appreciating life’s fleeting moments, an ode to life’s beautiful things.
Bragg has raised the bar, seemingly a daunting task after her stunningly strong previous album. Yet, this is stronger. It’s one huge adult dose. Drink in its messages and its unadorned, straight-forward beauty.
