When Eric “Roscoe” Ambel gets behind a project, one needs to take notice. You can always count on visceral rock n’ roll and sassy attitude which is exactly what he and Emily Duff deliver on Born on the Ground. Duff’s nine “love songs” clock in at just a little over a half-hour. There’s no need to elongate these breakup songs (yes, that’s why love songs appear in quotes above). Ambel produces and lends his guitar to several tracks in this live recording of Duff’s band – Scott Aldrich (guitars and background vocals), Skip Ward (bass), Charlie Giordano (keys), and Kenny Soule (drums/percussion). Mary Lee Kortes, Syd Straw, and Tricia Scotti all contribute background vocals.
Exuding confidence that comes with experience, Duff has infused these tracks with a hard edge, softened by the country-soul vocal that is evident throughout. The title track is as good a place as any to highlight the best aspects of the album. The medium-tempo great guitar work and Duff’s vocals all work well together, effectively reprised on “Killer.” So, we have centered on her comfort zone, her signature style. If you’re looking back to the headline, you’re right; there’s little punk but plenty of country soul in those two tunes. Others on the album compensate. The best example of brash punk is “Knuckle Sandwich,” where she sings and releases a mound of angst – “How’d you like a knuckle sandwich, how ‘bout my fist down your throat.” The outlaw country enters in the tune “No Escape” with its driving honky-tonk piano, as she pleads for the lover to leave. It’s not the lyrics that are special in this recording, it’s the attitude. Read her statement below and then consider that she’s delivering these tunes with hindsight from a place of contentment. One can only imagine how she was communicating in the moment.
This quote from Duff summates her approach to the album – “I wanted to examine emotional wounds through the mature lens of time with the self-confidence, faith, and the wisdom of motherhood and marriage. On my own from a very young age, I grew up rudderless, with positive role models for relationships and grew from tragedy, loss, and trial & error to understand where true love and happiness lives for me today. Cultivating self-wroth is like planting a garden and understanding that what is born in and on the ground will someday, with work and little bit of luck, be able to nourish and feed others well. Break-ups are not always with lovers. You can break up with family members and bad habits as well. Breaking is hard to do. But sometimes it’s how you save your life.”
As that statement indicates, Duff has seen plenty of hardship and can look back now form the point of view of a happily married woman and mother, now 30 years sober, to share her wisdom with others. She’s a mother who never had one. Duff had to figure it out on her own, finding her path through vintage guitars, muscle cars and old bars before she found CBGBs. She is maybe the female equivalent to Willie Nile in that NYC rock n’ roll poet role. Appropriately, she will cover Nile’s “Hell Yeah” on the forthcoming tribute of Nile on Paradiddle Records in August. She has a thriving stream of performances in TV and radio commercials as well as independent films. Currently, she lives in Manhattan’s West Village with her husband Skip, their two children, and their dog.
Spirited vocals, personal, no-holds-barred songwriting, rock n’ roll attitude, and hard-earned wisdom are all part of Emily Duff’s arsenal. Listen up.
