Prairie Wind

It's time for me to weigh in on Papa Neil's new album. I like it! He spends much of the album fondly reflecting on his childhood with elegaic grace (there's a phrase, eh?). Songs like "The Painter" and "When God Made Me"are deceptively simple in their beauty and honesty. Mostly acoustic, with string and pedal steel support (many of the usual suspects playing with him) as well as backing vocals from his wife Pegi and Emmylou Harris, the album is better than Harvest Moon and Silver and Gold which were his two previous acoustic efforts. The falsetto vocals sung completely flat on the track "Fallin' Off the Face of the Earth" are simultaneously endearing and hilarious. All things considered, a pretty album of folky reflection that will keep you warm by the fireplace this winter!