No Fear
In the five years since this multi-IBMA Award-winning band’s last album, three new members have come on board. Founders Deanie Richardson (fiddle) and vocalist-banjo player Gena Britt remain. Jaelee Roberts (guitar), Dani Flowers (guitar) and Maddie Dalton (bass) now round out the group.
This lineup delivers something that’s close to magic on No Fear. For starters, it never hurts to have four strong lead singers, each with a distinctive style—and ace pickers like Richardson. Britt and shadow member Tristan Scroggins on mandolin provide a rock-solid foundation.
The songs here are also top notch. Nearly all of them explore the brighter and darker dimensions of romantic love. “Willow,” the opening track featuring Roberts on lead, is a gorgeous heartbreak song that depicts a sorrow so overpowering that it seems to echo through entire natural world.
The feisty “If We Ain’t Drinking Then We’re Fighting” (cowritten by former member Tina Adair and with Roberts handling lead) is just what the title implies: a rowdy bluegrass-honky-tonk lament featuring Britt’s sparkling banjo and Richardson’s swingy fiddle fills.
Speaking of Richardson, her playing is magnificent throughout. She seems to get a slightly different tone and texture out of her instrument on every individual cut. On “Mississippi River Long,” a super-cool cut built on a list of different metaphors and similes for enduring love, newcomer Dalton serves up a stellar lead vocal.
“Cannonball,” with Flowers (who wrote or cowrote this and a couple other songs in this collection) on lead vocal is one heck of a mood-swing song that deals with romantic rage and vulnerability.
“Well” (Britt on lead) is a tongue-in-cheek plaint that plays off the various definitions of that single word. It features some really great vocal harmonies.
“Pad Thai Karaoke” (composed by Britt) is a rousing instrumental where everyone gets a good workout. Then there’s “Lie To Me” (cowritten by Flowers and featuring Roberts on lead). This is a lovely, retro-sounding heartbreak song that sounds like something Tammy Wynette might have recorded in her heyday. It features killer lines, such as: honestly, honesty is overrated and if the truth will set you free, then lie to me.
Five years is a pretty long stretch between releases. But as these and other tracks attest, No Fear was well worth the wait.
