Alternate Root

Devon Sproule has one of those rock and roll childhood stories that make for great VH1 documentaries. The daughter of hippie parents, Devon was born on a commune in Kingston, Ontario and shuffled between home schooling, public and private education. That’s a good opening scene. Quit high school, record an album and begin touring nationally before you turn eighteen and we’ll build the story from there. Global accolades follow; Rolling Stone, fRoots, Paste Magazine, the prestigious Sammy Cahn Award for songwriting at New York’s Lincoln Center, hob nobbing with legends like Jools Holland and toking a fatty with Lucinda Williams, that’s pretty cool. A relentles touring schedule follows and the inspiration begins to flow leading to the critically acclaimed breakout album ‘Upstate Songs’ in 2003. More touring, more inspiration, the emergence of a soul mate in crack guitarist and burgeoning producer Paul Curreri and this story begins to take on a life of it’s own. That’s the life of Devon Sproule to date; even without Jimmy Stewart, it’s a wonderful life and it’s bringing us some really fine music from a really good singer and a really fantastic writer...really! Her latest effort, ‘Don’t Hurry For Heaven’ compiles all of these things into a concise document that should put Devon Sproule into the select category of singer songwriters reserved for the very best. Where she deservedly belongs or already is, depending on if you already know about Devon Sproule.

‘Dont’ Hurry For Heaven!’ is a good three listen record before you are able to absorb it all in. It’s like a good movie you go back to to see what you missed the first time around. You are immediately drawn in by her voice; sultry, sexy...a mix of sophisticated jazz inflection, folkie innocence and country charm. I was taken in the same way when I first heard Madeleine Peyroux, Kacey Chambers or Eilen Jewell.

While you’re being lulled by Devon’s voice, you miss the power of the lyrics and so you go back and listen again. Lyrically she is the class of Lucinda Williams or Patty Griffin; poingnent stories that construct vivid images on a variety of subjects. She draws on a life lived, even at her young age, and a list of diverse influences to piece together her own style. On ‘Don’t Hurry for Heaven!’ she touches on matters of love, life, the road, marriage, friends and family. While those may not be unique subjects for the singer songwriter set the way she weaves the fabric together deserves attention. You listen to the stories and you see the characters in a familiar context to your own life’s experiences. For me that’s what makes a great lyricist and I’m beginning to think of her in that light.

And so while on your second trip through ‘Don’t Worry for Heaven’ you place the voice and the lyrics together into a tight package you find that musically this album is outright brilliant. Sproule is an accomplished guitarist that evokes a myriad of influences. She plays guitar on all the tracks on the album trading the spotlight on several tracks with husband, guitarist and producer Paul Curreri. The 1954 Gibson ES-125 that Sproule uses gives the album touches of a jazzy flavor reminiscent of the Wes Montgomery ‘west-coast’ style that fits perfectly with her smooth vocal delivery. Curreri enlisted a group of acomplished players including renowned pedal steel player BJ Cole on the beautiful ‘You Need A Mama,’ the reggae infused ‘Ain’t That The Way’ which also features the legendary Jesse Winchester and the title track among others. Most of ‘Don’t Hurry for Heaven!’ was recorded in England following a whirlwind tour abroad which included stints with Lucinda Williams in the UK. Curreri finished the record at their home in Virginia. Thus ends the third listen which ties together the cool tones of the music, the storyteller’s lyrics and smooth, classy delivery of the vocals into a tightly knit album that gives you everything you could want in a record. Now go back and listen to it all again for the first time with all of the pieces in place.