Review Roundup: Our Native Daughters Alum Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah Shine on Solo Efforts
The downside of being, in essence, a one-man “review section” for Concert Hopper is there are so many worthy albums released weekly that I could never get to all of them. Even sticking primarily to albums I get advanced press copies of, I've typically got 3-7 possibles. One guy with two ears and a day job just can't make it happen. So, occasionally, I'm going to do a mini-review roundup of albums I missed the first go, either because of a lack of time or (as is the case with the albums being reviewed today) or not getting an advance press copy to spend time with before release day.
This week's pair of albums actually have something in common; they're both by members of Americana supergroup Our Native Daughters. This year, ¾ of that group has released solo albums (with the fourth, Leyla McCalla, releasing the excellent Vari-Colored Songs in 2020). This week, I'll look at recent releases from Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah.
Allison Russell- Outside Child (released 5/21)
Allison Russell has long been a fixture of the roots music scene, not only with her Our Native Daughters work but also with Birds of Chicago and Po' Girl. Now, on her solo debut Outside Daughter, she truly gets to show off both her vocal range and her songwriting prowess. A loose concept album that taps into Russell's own experiences of child sexual abuse, a family history of mental illness, and her recovery and emergence from this dark beginning, Outside Child is weighty without ever being a downer, laden with enough nods to social justice to make Tucker Carlson's head explode without ever feeling preachy. Whether singing a jazzy tune in French (a nod to her native Montreal), to the electric guitar rock of “The Runner” to the old time banjo of “All of the Women,” Russell nails everything. But it is on the undisputed highlight of the album “Hy-Brasil” where she truly shows her genius. The near-lullaby rhythm and almost hypnotic chant of the chorus belies the dark and very too serious lyrics.
Just looking at the guests who lined up to assist Russell with this album (Yola, The McCrary Sisters, Erin Rae, and her Birds of Chicago JT Nero) is proof of how respected she is in the Nashville music community and beyond. With Outside Child the rest of us get to see why.
Amythyst Kiah- Wary & Strange (released 6/25)
Russell's Our Native Daughters bandmate Amythyst Kiah also released a new album this past week, Wary & Strange. From the outset, Kiah was the outlier in Our Native Daughters, and a necessary one. Her brassy blues-rock wail served as a rocking anchor to the more ethereal vocals of the other three. She also wrote and sang lead on the band's Grammy and Americana Award nominated “Black Myself.” Now, with Wary & Strange, Kiah shows off the true diversity of her musical talents.
The album's lead single is a revamp of “Black Myself.” Without the gentler harmonies of Giddens, McCalla, and Russell to play off, Kiah turns both her guitar and her vocals to 11. Everyone who has heard both version will have their favorite, but the aggression of this rendition fits the anger of lines like “Your precious god ain't gonna bless me, 'cause I'm black myself.”
Other standout tracks include “Wild Turkey”, about Kiah's struggle to cope with her mother's suicide when she was 17, the bass harmonica-heavy and near hard rock “Fancy Drones (Fracture Me)” about humanity's toxic relationship with technology, and the classic country twang of “Ballad of Lost.”
Kiah has always been an outsider. A queer black woman who studied old-time banjo in college, she ticks all of the boxes of “the other”, but these adversities have led to this place, an album that should be her star making moment.