As the story goes, Timms accumulated the material comprising In The World Of Him over several years with the common thread being songs written by men and sung from their perspective. Whereas the soft, sometimes seductive and typically graceful voice of Timms is there in all its tenderness, the backdrop, which moves from electronica to industrial folk noise, brings a woodshedding sort of ambience to the proceedings that makes for new waters for Timms. Rather, place this one squarely in the Dowd camp whose own artsy solo offerings oft-times blow off melody for texture. For those looking for a Timms on the order of her work with the Mekons or country-flavored offerings for Bloodshot Records under the pseudonym “Cowboy Sally”, you’re not going to find it on In The World Of Him.
The recording is an interesting one, to say the least, that pairs Timms with the quirky talents of Upstate New York singer, songwriter and sonic odd-ball Johnny Dowd who produced and recorded the album at his Ithaca studio over the course of several sessions during 2003. We move to recent releases from a couple of Chicago’s most venerable indie labels in Touch And Go Records and Thrill Jockey Records.įirst up is the release In The World Of Him which marks the solo debut on Touch And Go Records for Sally Timms of Mekons fame.
(For information on Ben Weaver and Stories Under Nails, check his web site at Sally Timms Stories Under Nails presents a singer and songwriter beyond his years. Only in his mid-twenties, Weaver’s still got a lot of living to do. Even more striking was the loneliness of the voice and guitar to go with the unrefined musical backdrop creating personal tales that reek of a Gothic sort of backwoods poet. Alone with that song, I could here all the qualities that made Townes the high priest tunesmith that he was, the poetic stringing together of words, the metaphorical imagery, and that thought-provoking inner core of a song that separates the good ones from the run of the mill types. So good that you get out to track number nine on Stories Under Nails, a track titled “Handed Down” about a father’s passing, and boy if it isn’t channeling the late Townes Van Zandt in a creepy, good kind of way. And that is exactly what Weaver is, a real good storyteller. Bits of noise, an almost conversational delivery by Weaver like your sitting around a campfire suckin’ a few down as he tells his tales is the predominant scent of this debut. Filled with steel, harp, banjo, piano and assorted other instruments and gadgets all brought together into totally unfettered arrangements, Stories Under Nails is plenty rough around the edges stuff.
House’s piece was just the kick needed to win yet another convert to the music and songs of Ben Weaver. At the same time, so enamored was Brown of Weaver’s work that here’s thinking he’d be casting an approving eye knowing that Mr. Sadly, it was Brown’s unfortunate passing that provided that impetus to dig a bit deeper. While there were enough cursory, song here and song there, listens to know this guy was better, or should I say different, than most, a benchmark jolt was needed to truly give the recording its due. Had it not been for that piece, Stories Under Nails from Minnesota-based singer/songwriter Ben Weaver may have fallen by the wayside for this scribe. Oh, did I mention Brown always liked to have a cooler of cold ones on hand when he pulled off the road to soak in his favored sounds. A big music fan to begin with, Brown, as recalled by author of the piece Silas House, was a big believer of a young singer/songwriter from Minnesota whose scrappy songs fell right in line with Brown’s own gritty writing style and were readymade for cranking up during his pickup truck jaunts through the countryside of his Mississippi home. The latest edition of No Depression magazine contains a remembrance of Southern author Larry Brown who died unexpectedly late last Fall. Like most anybody, too often it is by accident or tip or something crazy that gets someone to listen to something in the first place, myself included. Have to confess that of the many recordings that come this way, in the grand scheme of things only a handful find their way to these pages.
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