Use a little imagination when browsing the press clippings of Bloomington, Indiana, band the Mary Janes, and you can concoct scenarios that find Hank Williams hanging with John Cale, the Carter Family joining forces with the Cocteaus, and Chrissie Hynde auditioning for Fairport Convention. This eclectic list of comparisons and speculated influences is fitting because the focal point of the mary Janes' sound, the stunning voice of Vulgar Boatmen vet Janas Hoyt, is a versatile instrument with multiple personalities that emerge and retreat as needed. Hoyt unveils a near purr when contemplating contentment, but she's not afraid to growl when cornered. After the album's guardedly optimistic first half, courtesy of songs such as "Junie Moon", the elegant "Telescope" (haunted, as is most of Flame, by dueling violins), and "All I Want", things take a brutal turn. "Downtown" featuring scene-setting slide guitar work from Jason Wilber, travels a road from hope to homicide, while a bully's fists play a role in "Subtract the Night". In between is the album's most compelling moment, a tale of beatings, loss and widespread betrayal titled "Bruises and Breaks"; it rocks like a cousin to "Copperhead Road", sung by Hoyt with grit and battered soul.
The Mary Janes' full-length debut Record No. 1 was a revelation for many and a promise kept for others who had first encountered the band on the Tom T. Hall tribute album, Real. With their always-intriguing dynamics now augmented by pedal steel accents and, on the catchy "Be Careful", accordion, Flame has the feel of a long-term vow.
No Depression, May/June 2001, Rick Cornell |
