Monday, June 10, 2013

His Carolina Woman


Here's a record I was quite pleased to be able to pick up, a few months ago. I've known this side of the record for years - it was shared with me on a best-of-his-collection CD by an internet friend of mine... oh, I'd guess it was nearly a decade ago. The song - "My Carolina Woman" - is a good one. It's strong, without crossing over into the rarified air of something really special, as a tune, but what really grabs me about it are the places where Rodd Keith goes into triple harmony with himself. More than a few of my favorite Rodd discs contain this feature, although he didn't do it all that often.

The section from 1:10 to 1:20, and a similar moment about a minute later, have often rung throuigh my brain, in the decade since I first heard it, and the whole soulful production makes for a nice little record.

Download: Rodd Keith - My Carolina Woman
Play:

The flip side is titled "The Singing Hills", and I was initially underwhelmed by it. That didn't last, however - I listened a bit more deeply, and was quite taken with the borderline gorgeous backing track. For half of the track, it seems to be made up entirely of stringed instruments - bass and guitars. If there is a drummer there, he's playing very subdued brushes. About half way through, the piano makes itself known, again, buried in the mix, gradually playing more of a role, while remaining well in the background.

It's just a lovely track, and it matches the sweet, lovely lyrics (written by the same song-poet as the a-side, by the way) extremely well. One of the most laid-back tracks I've heard from Rodd Keith, and a real winner.

Download: Rodd Keith - The Singing Hills
Play:


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Bob! I too grew to love The Singing Hills! Love the way he sings it. Also love the 3 part harmony on My Carolina Woman....and also, the intro! Almost Beach Boys! Cool little record! The end of "Singing Hills" is gorgeous, when he goes falsetto into the echo

Sammy Reed said...

I am planning on bringing back the online strange-music show I used to have, "Music from the World of the Strange and the Bizarre"!
sammyreed.com/strange
My attempt to get rid of things in an effort to "grow up" wound up being more immature than things would've been if I left things alone. I still have a lot of albums, and I'll be getting more records to build my collection back up. Maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to do the show again!
Thanks for the out-of-there tunes on your site, and I'll keep my eyes & ears peeled here.

rock smith said...

Bob PLEASE repost,this is a superb song.