Artist: Granville Automatic
Album: Radio Hymns
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 11.02.18
To say that Nashville was once the Sodom and Gomorrah of the American South would be a bit of a stretch. Music City does have a colorful history, though, as Granville Automatic—the acclaimed songwriting duo of Vanessa Olivarez and Elizabeth Elkins—recounts on the literate concept album Radio Hymns, a gluttonous feast of hangings and hauntings, tawdry affairs, true crime and deceit, and Civil War-era disputes and roaring licentiousness softened by lush, dulcet Americana.
Evocative lyrics and flowing melodies are carried along by sweet vocal harmonies and rich, varied instrumentation with honeyed, traditional twang, as Radio Hymns and its accessible country-pop sways and glows with such tracks as “Summer Street” and “Adelicia.” The effect is cinematic throughout, with “Black Avenue Gallows” practically a lynch mob slowly marching triumphantly toward its crashing, almost celebratory conclusion—sharp violin cutting through the thick air, leading the riotous procession. Dramatic, moving ballads such as “News of the World” and “Affairs of Honor” also rise, gathering strength as they build beautifully while “Treaty Oak” briskly rides into the night over a rolling musical landscape like an apparition on horseback.
Included in the CD packaging is a map of Nashville marking where each incident took place, along with song summaries telling how the actual events unfolded. Such detail gives Radio Hymns an air of extraordinary authenticity, par for the course with Olivarez and Elkins, known for creating songs for the likes of Sugarland, Billy Currington and Wanda Jackson. And on Radio Hymns, they enlist the help of country and bluegrass icon Jim Lauderdale for a sassy and sunny “Marbles,” which tells of Jimi Hendrix hanging around Nashville and acting crazy, as well as other luminaries and a host of the city’s top studio musicians and studios to artfully bring this whole theatrical production to life. It’s an ambitious spectacle worthy of the glorious Ryman Auditorium, with Elkins and Olivarez relating how the famous venue was saved in an endearing, feel-good title track. It’s nice to know the art of great storytelling isn’t dead.
—Peter Lindblad
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