Matraca Berg
The Dreaming Fields
Dualtone Records - 2011
http://www.matracaberg.com
Yes Yes, let's get it out the way early...this is a country CD review on a classic rock message board.
Now that that is out of the way, let's concentrate on the music.
Matraca Berg? What, you've never heard of her? Well, okay maybe you haven't but you've certainly heard her music before. In a genre of music where someone else always seems to have written the songs sung by the "big" stars, Matraca Berg stands out as one of the giants of the country music.
Among the many artists who have had huge hits performing songs Berg has written are Trisha Yearwood (4 times), Deana Carter ("Strawberry Wine"), Martina McBride, Gretchen Wilson and The Dixie Chicks. Her most recent hit song is the Kenny Chesney/Grace Potter song "You and Tequila". Interestingly enough, her own version of that song is included on this album.
It has been quite a number of years since Berg's last studio album, the hugely underrated
Sunday Morning To Saturday Night.
The Dreaming Fields finds Matraca's songwriting craft in top form and her voice remains simply beautiful. She is an incisive storyteller with songs reflecting on love, loss, longing and the past among the topics on this album.
The majority of the songs on the album are slow paced. I think that is the one thing I really missed from her past albums, the lack of a bouncy sounding pop style song with fun and/or humorous lyrics. But don't let that make you think I didn't enjoy the album overall.
Bitter irony was included though, on the song "Your Husband's Cheating On Us". Personally, I think my favorite song on the album was "Fall Again" followed by Berg's version of her song "You and Tequila" (I prefer her version over the Chesney/Potter version) and the piano heavy title track.
The one song that had an uptempo pace, "Silver and Glass", was pretty good as well.
Sadly, life isn't fair. If it was, artists like Matraca Berg and Kim Richey would be the big stars instead of being better known for writing songs that big stars perform for themselves.
It takes some time to discover the real backbone of country music artistry, the songwriters, but it is well worth the investment of time when you find Matraca Berg.
Simply put, she is one of the best the genre has to offer.
RATING: A MINUS
The full track listing is:
01. If I Had Wings
02. You and Tequila
03. Racing The Angels
04. Silver and Glass
05. Clouds
06. The Dreaming Fields
07. Oh Cumberland
08. Your Husband's Cheating On Us
09. Fall Again
10. South Of Heaven
11. A Cold, Rainy Morning In London in June