Martha Schuyler Thompson: New Release

The music...

Martha Schuyler Thompson has written, arranged, produced and recorded a new CD (her seventh on the Cottage Industry Music label) of twelve songs entitled, No Visible Means Of Support. This mature and poignant collection of work concerns itself with the myriad strengths and vulnerabilities experienced by human beings facing monumental losses, absences, profound vacancies and voids. The album is replete with vagabonds, liars and thieves intertwined with honest, stable, committed individuals all dealing with the vagaries of life. In extreme circumstances when loss is manifested in our lives there comes a moment at which we must ultimately choose either faith or faithlessness to fill the remaining void. The characters in Thompson’s songs exhibit a full range of emotional successes and failures when making that choice as they must ask themselves just what they believe in when the underpinnings of their lives are no longer readily visible. Thematically the question lends itself well to the Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Pop, Alternative Country and Folk stylistic genres represented on this CD. Still, Thompson seamlessly blends such diverse elements as Latin, Celtic, Industrial and even Orchestral Rock into this powerful body of work to fully celebrate the contemporary voice of American Roots Music.

No Visible Means Of Support winds us up at its outset with the distinctly human impulses to rebuild, procreate and consume in the post-apocalyptic Industrial Blues piece “Monkey Off My Back.” This is followed by the dreamy yet percussive Cinematic Country Blues of “A Single Soul” a cautionary tale exploring various degrees of self-delusion. Stepping up next to reveal what might replace the role of motherhood when a child comes of age is the Celtic-inflected “Little Wonder” (written from Thompson’s own personal experience) featuring bouzouki, bodhran and bagpipes. The theme off loss is further examined in the heartbreaking “Time Stands Still” as a woman’s shattered faith in the husband who has abandoned her is set against the backdrop of her children’s unwavering yet naive faith in their father’s return. Next the urbane Pop-noir “In My Corner Now” rumbles along with Latin rhythms, pseudo-surf guitar and the kind of witty undercurrent that can only accompany enlightenment and self-possession. Nestled at the center of this collection are two tenderly segued songs “Vagabond Love” and “Dream” that may well be destined to become new classic American Standards. In these companion pieces the combination of Thompson’s frail, achingly vulnerable vocal delivery and the worn-out, buzzing action of her steel guitar betrays the tired and world-weary final desires of the songs’ character at the twilight of her well-traveled life. Amid fluid guitar and shimmering cymbal rolls (meant to evoke the rivers, waterways and canals of Galway, Ireland where Thompson recently lived during a writer’s retreat) orchestral chimes signal the moments at which the character in “Novena” stumbles unwittingly across abandoned shopping carts and newfound truths. A variation of a New Orleans funereal march lends itself well to the overall mood in “Just Clare” as clinking glass bottles capture the spirit of the pub at closing time when Irish storytellers of tall tales hold court with a curious mixture of solemnity and revelry among unsuspecting innocents. We are brought back to our senses with the synchopated, rhythmic back porch Southern Blues of “Workin’ Overtime.” A strumming mandola grabs our attention for the epic Orchestral Rock piece “Is That Love I Hear” in which humanity reigns in the aftermath of terrorism and war. We are brought full circle as “Vagabond Waltz” is reprised at the close of the recording to reiterate the theme and remind listeners of the hope and promise that comes as a result of meaningful human interactions.

No Visible Means Of Support features the following stellar supporting musicians: George Mitchell (Diana Ross Band, Sheila E. & Leroy Vinnegar) on keyboards; Gordon Rencher (Randy Newman, Dave Brubeck & Mark O’Connor) on drums and percussion; Brian Casey (Mel Brown, Conjunto Allegre & Pink Martini) on bass; and Martha Schuyler Thompson on lead & backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, resonator guitars, bouzouki, mandola, harmonica, pennywhistle, glass bottles and socket wrench.