Mama's Broke Creates Music With No Concept of Border on 'Narrow Line'

What happens when you take two women who, together and separately, have spent most of the past decade in an almost constant state of touring and ground them for most of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic? For Lisa Maria and Amy Lou Kessler, collectively known as Mama's Broke, it meant holing up together in isolated cabins or small apartments to take some of the material they conceived on the road as well as to experiment with new ideas, freed by an unfamiliar abundance of time. The result was Narrow Line, out May 13 on Free Dirt Records.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a band whose pre-COVID lives consisted of an endless loop of Canada, The United States, and Europe, the duo call their music “Rootless Roots Music” and it's not just a catchy title invented by a publicist somewhere. Throughout Narrow Line the duo weaves in and out of Appalachian folk, British folk, a cappella storytelling, and centuries of Celtic traditions like the concept of them being different things is a completely foreign one. There is even some Eastern European folk music influence there, courtesy of a raid of Ukrainian folk albums from Lisa's grandfather's collection.

All of those styles (and all folk music in general when one goes back far enough) contain more than a little darkness in their lyrical and instrumental approach and there's plenty to go around here. It's easy to lump them into the small but growing “doom folk” movement of artists mixing roots music with the atmosphere of metal artists like Black Sabbath and Sorcerer. But it's more accurate to say those bands pulled at least some of their own sound from those same ancient musical traditions of their own homes.

The topics covered on Narrow Line cast a wide net. The title track addresses the devastating effect of climate change the pair has seen on their frequent tours. “Oh Sun” grapples with accepting the consequences of one's own choices, and of the external influences that come into play.

But if you only listen to one song on Narrow Line, make it “God's Little Boy.” A relentless and unforgiving broadside at a subset of young men who, angry at a world that no longer gifts them dominion over women, take that anger out in the form of violence. In a world full of Proud Boys and “incel” groups (involuntary celibacy, for those unfamiliar) who complain about having to treat women as equals, about not getting the sexual and social deference they feel they're owed, it's a topical song that reminds us women are fighting back, and often paying the price with their lives.

Now that the worst of COVID has (hopefully...) passed, I suspect Mama's Broke will get back to their transient ways, but for now, we have Narrow Line to be thankful for until they do.