Grey DeLisle
Iron Flowers
(Sugar Hill)
First Appeared in The Music Box, July 2005, Volume 12, #7
Written by John Metzger
Refusing to be confined to the alt-country and neo-traditionalist movements,
Grey DeLisle commences her latest effort Iron Flowers with a rendition of
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. However, rather than cop the over-the-top
theatrics of the original operatic drama, she softly sings the lyrics amidst the
gently curling wisps of a pedal steel guitar, and the resulting melancholy mood
evokes a sense of desperation that is positively chilling. In recent years,
Dolly Parton has employed a similar strategy of adapting songs such as Led
Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Collective Soul’s Shine for a
country-oriented audience, but DeLisle’s vision appears to be far grander.
Although the subsequent track Joanna could have followed a decidedly
Parton-esque path, it’s adornment with an array of castanets, maracas, and
sleigh bells liberates it from its Americana-based roots and carries it into the
realm of Phil Spector-ish pop. Elsewhere, DeLisle dabbles in ghostly rockabilly
(Who Made You King), atmospheric Wilco-isms (Inside Texas), and
edgy garage rock (Blueheart), and she shades both Right Now and
The Bloody Bucket with the pub-infused essence of Elvis Costello and Graham
Parker. In working with such a diverse palette, DeLisle naturally runs the risk
of creating an album that sounds scattered, but bound by the distant Appalachian
strum of Mother Maybelle Carter and the common lyrical threads of love, death,
and addiction, Iron Flowers becomes more cohesive than it initially may
appear to be. 
Iron Flowers is available
from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2005 The Music Box