Caitlin Cary Waltzie CD

Personnel includes: Caitlin Cary (vocals, violin); Chris Stamey (guitar, piano, bass, snare drum); Mike Daly (12-string & pedal steel guitars, dulcimer); Ryan Adams (harmonica, synthesizer, background vocals); Skillet Gilmore (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Modern Recording, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Includes liner notes by Chris Stamey.
This intimate EP showcases the ex-Whiskeytown member's beautiful soprano and sets the stage for her full YepRoc debut, While You Weren't Looking. Featuring four originals, some more completed than others, all are convincing in their delivery and testaments to Cary's abilities as a lyricist and songwriter, not merely a violin player and harmony vocalist. Highlights are the melancholy, yet moving waltz opener, "Sorry," penned with the help of multi-instrumentalist Mike Daly, who also flavors the affair with pedal steel, dulcimer, and 12-string, and Cary's more upbeat, feminist-tinged plea "Rosemary Moore," encouraging an aging widow to stop grieving and start living. Featuring the dark, humorous lines "take out your hearing aid and go have a drink" and "if he didn't die happy at least he didn't die poor," it's hard not to hear the influence of ex-bandmate Ryan Adams, who lends harmonies and harmonica. Produced by Chris Stamey (Sneakers and the dB's), this is serious work with a warm, living room vibe. ~ William Meyer
The quiet grace and understated eloquence of Caitlin Cary's voice and songs will appeal not only to fans of alt-country (she played violin with No Depression godheads Whiskeytown), but to anyone with an ear for the plaintive folk-rock of Sandy Denny. The late British singer's style seems to be a touchstone of this EP.
Cary effectively channels Denny's stately-but-low-key approach on "Sorry" and "Big Town." The quirky, uptempo "Nursery Lie" bears the mark of producer/co-writer/former dB Christ Stamey, disrupting the moody flow, but the closing song, a cover of Richard Thompson's gloriously gloomy "Withered & Dies," picks up the British folk thread nicely, closing things out on an appropriately somber note.No Depression (9-10/00, p.112) - "...A dead ringer for 1970s English folk-rock, a la Linda Thompson, Sandy Denny and the Fairport Convention....its gorgeous and simple melodies sound ages old..."