Sing Out

Needless to say, Yukon singer-songwriter Kim Beggs handsomely delivers on the promise of her first two critically acclaimed albums, Streetcar Heart and Wanderer's Paean, with this debut Black hen project. Her vulnerably sincere yet breezily comfortable vocal approach, which recalls Hazel Dickens, engages the listener immediately, while the quality of her marvelously anecdotal songwriting (nine originals are here) authentically captures and comments on the various elements of the rustic, laid-back charm of the Canadian north. Producer Steve Dawson's accomplished guitar playing - on National steel, electric slide and Weissenborn - adds depth to all 13 tracks, with similarly organic support also provided by keyboardist Chris Gestrin, bassist Keith Lowe and drummer John Raham alongside high and lonesome vocal harmonies provided by Laurie Lewis, Gurf Morlix, Natalie Edelson, and Jeanne Tolmie. All four of Beggs' covers are solid picks as well, from a stunningly wistful take on the traditional "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" and a heartbreaking reshaping of Patty Griffin's "Trapeze" (Griffin is another obvious Beggs influence) to an aptly breathless redo of Bob Dylan's recorded-in-Nashville classic "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" and Nashville producer Jack Clement's honky-tonk weeper "Just Someone I Used To Know," a big hit for George Jones. Standouts among Beggs' plainspoken, often-incisive compositions are many. A few I keep coming back to include bluesy, pensive tale of "Mama's Dress," a yodel-ridden slice of philosophy with a great hood titled "Can't Drive Slow Yodel," the powerfully pulsing "Firewater Bones" (dedicated to the memory of Beggs' little brother who was born with Fetal Alcohol Sprectrum Disorder) and the skillfully tongue-in-cheek "Summertime Lonesome Blues." An original talent just hitting her stride.