Following ten years of silence, American folk artist Shannon Jae Ridout has returned with a collection of songs with `Two Busted Boots And A Broken Heart` written while traveling the United States over a decade ago, which now finally see the light of day. These songs are a window into, and a reflection of life experiences during those years that explore themes of love, loss, longing, grief, addiction, and mental health struggles. With visceral imagery, hard hitting honesty and poetic lyrics, she has a way of making the listener feel as if she’s right there with them, in musical mourning.
The album opens with `Lonesome Blues` with its not aggressive but quite assertively strummed acoustic guitar. An ode or plea to someone who is absent that things could be wonderful if they`d just take a chance and get together. There`s a delightful reverberation in Shannon Jae`s vocal delivery. The wonderfully reflective `Autumn Hums` conjures up a picture of that transitional season between summer and winter with its cooler temperatures, shorter daylight hours, changing leaf colours, and the harvest. But it’s also a meditation on a relationship where the participants are apart by choice or circumstances which is left for the listener to decide.
Although the title of `Gone For Good` creates a scenario of finality, this number is fairly upbeat or possibly accepting of an inevitability that a relationship has run its course. There`s some poetic lines throughout the number such as “My thoughts of you gentle on my mind like falling timber my heart it pines” and “The petals lay stripped from a rose and all I have are your worn out clothes” simple but stunning. There`s a kind of forgiveness sought with `No Known Stranger` where the narrator is looking for a second or third or many more chances…
`It Ain’t Right` opens with a melancholic harmonica hue shared over a strummed guitar as the singer narrates a tale of somebody who is sitting by a river, drinking, and reminiscing on times that have been difficult for them. There`s a recognition of the pain that the person is undergoing and the dark thoughts they have but the narrator encourages them to avoid certain possibilities by assuring them of their love and support. There`s a real powerful texture to `The Day I’ve Had Enough` which has some quite intricate guitar chords and is a fairly melancholic reverie full of anguish and despondency about self-annihilation from a Willow tree which strangely symbolises resilience, flexibility, and adaptability, and in a case like this is famous for its ability to bend without breaking in the harshest winds.
`Ranger Moon` seems to be a sombre tale of a duel or face-off, the lead up to the event and the depressing aftermath where the partner of the deceased has to raise the casualty’s unborn son alone. There`s an aching sadness to `Mississippi Please` a plea or request for better times or a passageway out of this location as this place appears to have created nothing but suffering due to one of the downsides of what’s on offer in the Magnolia State and its infamous deep and wide river.
`Helpless Without Love` is more or less what it says on the tin a tale of following a lover as life has no meaning without them. The final cut is the title track `Two Busted Boots And A Broken Heart` and has a waltz like ambience. The busted boots from travelling and the broken heart referring to the singer`s long term canine companion Wesson, a loyal escort who passed away and adorns the album`s cover artwork along with said boots.
`Two Busted Boots And A Broken Heart` isn`t a joyous upbeat listen but if you allow it time it will seep into you soul and give you some food for thought for the rest of the day. As the accompanying blurb says there`s songs of love, loss, longing, grief, addiction, and mental health struggles but shared at times in a matter of fact way and at others in a poetic and at times humorous way. An album definitely worth investing in.
Rating 8.5/10
