Gillian Welch – SOUL
JOURNEY
If I start sleeping
in the gutter, drunk at the age of 40, Soul
Journey would be my album of choice. Not that it’s depressing and not that
it’s uplifting – it’s both. But a bad streak is perfect for it. Lying off the
beaten track, abandoned by all, somewhere in Nashville.
An album heard at a
special moment in life, under special circumstances, but while many albums like
that (Bon Iver’s For Emma is one) are
later revealed as weak and ‘what on Earth was I thinking’, Soul Journey has never let me down. Not once.
You can tell me about
the transcendental alt. country beauty of “One More Dollar” all you want, but I
never liked Gillian Welch when she was trying to be perfect. It just sounded
smooth. Sterile. So in that sense Soul
Journey was a true gift. It’s like she wasn’t trying too hard – and for
some people, it works best.
Jeff Tweedy has never
done a song better than “He’s a Dick”. Likewise, “One Monkey” is the best thing
Gillian Welch has ever done. But Soul
Journey is so much more than that. And Christ it’s hard to stay away from a
pathetic dive into this album’s title.
