Review: Joyann Parker ‘Roots’

Review: Joyann Parker ‘Roots’

By Dennis Rozanski

Time has come. Change is afoot. And Wisconsin-born singer-songwriter-musician Joyann Parker goes to great lengths to signal that transformation with her third album in five years, Roots (out on Hopeless Romantic Records on September 8, 2023). The artwork’s imagery seconds that emotion, visually trading out the noir atmospheres gracing 2018’s Hard to Love and 2021’s Out of the Dark in favor of sunshiny, snowy woodlands. Flannel and denim in place of lace and lipstick.

But don’t come expecting a rustic soundtrack fit for knotty-pine cabins, all woody tones free of amplifiers or bite. Although the leadoff title track wastes no time lyrically affirming Roots’ claim—“I put my roots down, down in the ground”—the declaration comes amid the thrust of Mark Lamoine’s thorny electric guitar, whose notes are all tension.

And, far more often than not, Parker’s Roots continue to, well, rock. Roots-rock, that is. Granted: “Miss Evangeline” certainly fits the bill of Roots to earthy, organic perfection, with an acoustic guitar trading jangly licks with a mandolin. And “Sconnie Girl,” beaming a checklist of Wisconsin pride, plays into that warm, downhome vibe. Both could well survive on a front porch or around a crackling hearth.

Stylistic variety keeps thriving. The melody breezing lightly through “Old Flame” helps counteract conflicted, unresolved emotions that still smolder. “Ain’t Got Time to Cry” tangos while Parker soars her case-hardened fury up into the rafters. Horns infiltrate the roadhouse kicker “Faintly Optimistic” with their brassiness. The constant flicker of a nasty slide guitar serves as sole accompaniment during the battle of “Forsaken,” which straddles a spiritual chasm between halos and horns that works up Parker’s scorching wrath. And “Juxtaposition” stretches as far as employing a reggae-tinted rhythmic chop to slink on down the street.

And, yes, each of the tracks—from the tornadic kiss-off given by “What’s Good for You” to the cunning supper-club blues of “Stay Home Mama”—comply with the mandates of Roots. All 13 are, indeed, home-grown Parker originals.

Yet whatever goes on around her musically, not only can Parker’s songwriting pen poetically scribe from within the recessed crevices of a torn and tattered heart. But then her fire-and-ice voice delivers those sentiments with a been-there, been-hurt-like-that genuineness that palpably brings those words to life.

Take, for instance, the back-to-back suite of simmering melancholy majesty: a rain-drenched, tear-soaked “Wash It Away” floods into the harsh reality held by “Closing Someone Else’s Blinds.” She commands every moment. The dynamic range in that voice softly curls nuanced intonations around the sting—but then drops the hammer with force and utmost resolve. It’s that fire and ice in action.

And then “Going Under” is upon us.

The arresting ballad lurks toward the end of Roots, just as the standout “Out of the Dark” did on its namesake album two years ago. “I’m going down in a slow spin ’round the drain”—the first words we hear—is definitely not good news. In cahoots, producer Kevin Bowe’s layered orchestration sees that the music does not loosen the grip, strategically pinpointing crescendos and diminuendos in order to up the drama. Like when Parker’s cry rises on the band’s concerted thrust until convening up at the peak, up above the undercurrent of piano elegantly streaming far below, up where bittersweet guitar notes take over for a few fleeting seconds before the freefall. Yet you wouldn’t want the ache to be any less crushing. Because as exquisitely gorgeous gut-punches go, “Going Under” is a crippler whose four minutes and 27 seconds of emotional sinking demand replay, both immediate and repeated.

Call it the blues. Or call it life—and the price paid for having a heartbeat. Regardless of formal diagnosis, Joyann Parker expertly knows, and sings, her way around a dark, ransacked heart. Even while bathed in sunshine for a change and standing, boot-deep, in the brightest snow.

Joyann Parker website

“Roots”