Romi Mayes
Achin In Yer Bones
romimayes.com
It’s probably inevitable that Winnipeg singer-songwriter Romi Mayes would get compared a lot to Lucinda Williams. Like Williams, Mayes is a brutally honest and open songwriter whose music reflects a life lived – at least partially – on the edge, and she stakes out a similar musical turf at the crossroads of folk, blues, real-deal country and rock ‘n’ roll. And her producer, Gurf Morlix, also produced Williams’ middle period albums.
The open honesty in Mayes’ lyrics is established from the get-go in the title track that opens this CD. The song recalls her much younger self, burnt out on a Kerouacian ramble, really needing to get back home, even if it meant 40 lonely hours on a Greyhound.
Some of my favourite pieces on the album include “I Won’t Cry,” a song whose defiant lyrics in the face of a break-up are in sharp contrast to the slow, sad melody and singing in which you can hear the cry in her voice, and “Hard Road,” a constantly-touring musician’s revelation that she needs to come in off the road for a while.
Romi Mayes performs Wednesday, June 3, 8:00 pm, at Petit Campus, 57 Prince Arthur East in Montreal – hellodarlinproductions.com/romi_mayes.htm – and Thursday, June 4, 8:30 pm, at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield – theblacksheepinn.com.
-Mike Regenstreif
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