Country Acoustic
Shanna Underwood:
Fieldnotes From A Caravan
Produced by: Shanna Underwood and Azal KhanReleased:
2011www.cdbaby.com/cd/shannaunderwoodhttp://reverbnation.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://sonicbids.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://shannaunderwood.bandcamp.com/
Fieldnotes From A Caravan is an album of songs written by Shanna Underwood on her travels through Nepal, Thailand, and the United States. The album was released in January 2011 and includes an assortment of musicians including, upright bass, drums, electric guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. She herself sings and plays acoustic guitar. The style of the music might be called country blues, although many of the songs are more of a country acoustic style. Her vocals are very rich and well blended with the instruments. The musicianship is excellent as well her song writing. The album opens with There Was A Town which is about small town life and how some people stay and some leave and what it is like to leave and try to come back:
“There was a town
It started small
Smelled like saltwater and smoke in the fall
But folks move around
And now its grown
They weren’t lying when they said you can’t go home
You can never go home
You can’t love a town for what you want it to be
You’ve got to love that town for what it is
And find a little happiness
There was a boy
He was kind and strong
In a young girl’s eyes he could do no wrong
But folks move around
And now she’s gone
Left for school, but this is till the only town he’s known
Old mills and stone”
From Appalachia to the Himalayas is about her travels in that part of the world:
“Sebago Lake in the summer time
Come on in, the water is fine
Don’t be shy, take it all off
I’ll tell you a secret after it gets dark
The leaves are on fire, they’re starting to fall
When they blow away, it makes me feel so small
I light the wood left in the stove, the smell of smoke
Makes me feel less alone
From Appalachia to the Himalayas
I never met anyone like you.”
She does a nice job of putting her experiences to music and into her lyrics. The arrangements are blended well with the acoustic feel all the way through the album and a good mix of guitar, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as the other instruments filling out the sound. Shanna sings with a very comfortable style and has a beautiful voice. It takes the listener through a story of her experiences and ends with a song that has a bit of sadness in it titled Willingly:
There’s a shore that’s safe
We call it home
Water looks deep and cold, but there’s a life out there I know
The siren of dreams is calling me
Saying jump on in
Somedays you just got to let it go
But my fingers getting torn baby busted and worn
Scraping at the shell of a dream
I get up in the morning and run
Cause I don’t know how else to be
I may fall on the pavement
I may get rained on
But I’ll walk into that ocean, willingly
The album is very well done, and Shanna Underwood is well worth listening to.
[Greg Bennett]
Shanna Underwood:
Fieldnotes From A Caravan
Produced by: Shanna Underwood and Azal KhanReleased:
2011www.cdbaby.com/cd/shannaunderwoodhttp://reverbnation.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://sonicbids.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://shannaunderwood.bandcamp.com/
Fieldnotes From A Caravan is an album of songs written by Shanna Underwood on her travels through Nepal, Thailand, and the United States. The album was released in January 2011 and includes an assortment of musicians including, upright bass, drums, electric guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. She herself sings and plays acoustic guitar. The style of the music might be called country blues, although many of the songs are more of a country acoustic style. Her vocals are very rich and well blended with the instruments. The musicianship is excellent as well her song writing. The album opens with There Was A Town which is about small town life and how some people stay and some leave and what it is like to leave and try to come back:
“There was a town
It started small
Smelled like saltwater and smoke in the fall
But folks move around
And now its grown
They weren’t lying when they said you can’t go home
You can never go home
You can’t love a town for what you want it to be
You’ve got to love that town for what it is
And find a little happiness
There was a boy
He was kind and strong
In a young girl’s eyes he could do no wrong
But folks move around
And now she’s gone
Left for school, but this is till the only town he’s known
Old mills and stone”
From Appalachia to the Himalayas is about her travels in that part of the world:
“Sebago Lake in the summer time
Come on in, the water is fine
Don’t be shy, take it all off
I’ll tell you a secret after it gets dark
The leaves are on fire, they’re starting to fall
When they blow away, it makes me feel so small
I light the wood left in the stove, the smell of smoke
Makes me feel less alone
From Appalachia to the Himalayas
I never met anyone like you.”
She does a nice job of putting her experiences to music and into her lyrics. The arrangements are blended well with the acoustic feel all the way through the album and a good mix of guitar, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as the other instruments filling out the sound. Shanna sings with a very comfortable style and has a beautiful voice. It takes the listener through a story of her experiences and ends with a song that has a bit of sadness in it titled Willingly:
There’s a shore that’s safe
We call it home
Water looks deep and cold, but there’s a life out there I know
The siren of dreams is calling me
Saying jump on in
Somedays you just got to let it go
But my fingers getting torn baby busted and worn
Scraping at the shell of a dream
I get up in the morning and run
Cause I don’t know how else to be
I may fall on the pavement
I may get rained on
But I’ll walk into that ocean, willingly
The album is very well done, and Shanna Underwood is well worth listening to.
[Greg Bennett]
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