Bodyssey

Vagabond Mississippi queen reinvents wheels in the sky

by Don Allred
October 24th, 2005 6:46 PM issue 43

Hope is a cold thing to hold.
photo: Kristin Barlowe
Shelly Fairchild
Ride
Sony Nashville
Stream "I Want to Love You" (Windows Media)
Stream "Fear of Flying" (Windows Media)

Country newcomer Shelly Fairchild's hot, sweet Ride is so tight, a drill
sergeant could bounce a quarter off it. If he's quick enough: Look yonder, she's
calling up your salty walls, "Hide behind them hides of leather, you and
Custer, fools of a feather!" Her feather, which brushes by, with a coup de drawl:
"Ah can tell by the way you walk, you're ready to f-a-w-l-l-l." To fall just
right (like that bouncing quarter), and thus learn to 'preciate the rider's sense
of balance.
Shelly challenges herself too, leaving her "Tiny Town," though carrying away
a sense of community. A community of sound (plenty soul, but hardly any solos,
just come-hither intros and hydroelectric dynamics). A community that uses
what it's got, not just what it's (dammit!) supposed to have. "Down Into Muddy
Water" cranks up what could easily just be good ol' Muscle Shoals and feeds
frustration to a fever.

But this is the same young woman who dared herself to declare, "I want to
love you," and now finds herself wailing, "You pore little thing!" in wonder.
Before coming back to a cautious, clear-eyed "I hope you get over your fear of
flying." Yeah, hope: That's a cold thing to hold. But it'll be a wheel (again)
someday.

.