Mary Lee Kortes of Mary Lee’s Corvette has carved out a solid reputation as a singer-songwriter but none of her previous works necessarily prepared us for this unique 2-LP project, Will Anybody Know That I Was Here: The Songs of Beulah Rowley. The immersive project was born from a feeling that Kortes just could not shake. Writers often get in a zone, and just can’t shake certain images, concepts, or characters. With an image in her head about a woman named Beulah Rowley, a depression-era singer-songwriter, from the Midwest like her, she immediately started writing the song ‘Born a Happy Girl.’” That one song led to a biography and complete songbook, enough for a double album. It’s fiction but Kortes sees many aspects of herself in this character.
In Kortes’ creation, Beulah Rowley found regional fame throughout the 1930s, performing original songs she wrote and stored locked inside a custom-made, wrought-iron piano bench. At just twenty-one years old, she died in a house fire with her husband and infant daughter—but the piano bench, and her songs, survived, and would be passed down over generations and through flea markets before ending up with Kortes. On her tenth birthday, Kortes asked her father to open the bench, and came upon all of Beulah’s handwritten melodies and lyrics. It was then she decided to one day surface these songs. Considering that Kortes has been on the scene for over 25 years now, this has certainly been a long time coming. One can find articles about her performing some of these songs as far back as 2011. Thankfully, crowdfunding pushed it over the edge.
To realize this was the last single-artist project helmed by the late beloved Grammy-winning producer, Hal Wilner, his swan song makes it that more special. He restructured and provided instrumental ideas beyond what Kortes had conceived. Many of the tracks are fleshed out with horns and strings but at the core are longtime Kortes’ collaborators – guitarists Andy York and Rod Hohl, vocalist and banjoist Ann Klein, accordionist Joe Chiofalo, bassist Jeremy Chatzky, pedal steel player Jon Graboff, drummer Konrad Meissner, and percussionist Shawn Pelton. Keep in mind that collectively these musicians are creating music of 1930s vintage, often with nine or ten musicians on a track with instruments such as banjo and accordion often prominent. Harmonies abound with background singers, and we get a cross-section of European and American saloon-like music, bordering on vaudeville in some passages, as well as a mix of Americana and swing.
“Born a Happy Girl,” was released as a single and appears as the third track on the first LP. It’s a pretty simple melody, driven by Klein’s banjo, and it exudes an apt Depression-era vibe. Kortes sings rather deliberately and softly on the ballads but more often she summons considerable power, staying pretty intense throughout these lyrically rich songs. The final song on LP 1, “Green Sand” is also a single, featuring Joe Jackson on piano and background vocals. It’s partly inspired by the story of Bonnie and Clyde, the envy and coveting of the riches so prominent in Beulah’s Depression-era but rather universal as certain desires are almost always out of reach for most of us. Both singles have accompanying videos.
The LP version has two bonus tracks – “A Greater Good” and the rehearsal recording of “Will Anybody Know I Was Here.” Aside from that, the 2-LP version has 19 tracks. Standouts are the ballad “The Old Piano Bench,” the banjo-driven stomper “A Rain’s Gonna Come” (also destined for a single) featuring Charlie Burnham on electric violin with wah-wah effects, the melodic “Someplace We Can’t See” and the album’s gem, the infectious, singalong “Well By the Water.” All three are consecutive on the second side of LP 1. Although it’s best that you listen to the whole story, the title track and “Lost and Found 3,” also with Joe Jackson are the most impactful on LP 2. Again, it’s not the kind of Americana music we are used to or anything like Kortes’ Corvette albums; it seems more suited for a theatrical production which may well happen at some point. Nonetheless, the craft, and the keen observations are still universal in many respects, and the diverse musical treatments, add up to one of the more unique musical projects in recent times.
The 2-LP set will be released on Record Store Day as a vinyl exclusive.
