Local Lore
Newsletter of the Portland Folklore Society
January/February 2000
Jane Voss: Farther Down the Road (Ripple Recordings)
Long-time members of PFS will remember Jane’s Portland appearances in the early ’80s, when she and her partner (in music and life), Hoyle Osborne, performed here, and introduced delighted audiences to Keep In Mind that I Love You, Don’t Let a Good Friend Go Down, Standing Behind a Man, Song for a Shrinking Violet, and Still (My Thoughts Go Back to You). But after Jane and Hoyle moved to New Mexico, they stopped touring for several years. I’m very glad to tell you, SHE’S BACK! with a new CD packed with dynamite songs.
Jane has never been hesitant to address painful subjects, and her honesty as a songwriter is well known and widely respected, judging by how many folks have covered her songs. In Farther Down the Road, it’s clear that she’s been wrestling with some personal demons (depression, anxiety, bereavement), has overcome them, and is sharing her insights through these amazing songs.
But the album is no downer – it’s a triumphant compilation that shows there IS a path through the hardest times, if you just keep going. From the opening song, Do You See That Moon? with its line, “But the heart sunk down so low may yet be full,” to the title cut, which begins, “The storm is over, I’ve made it through,” the images are of healing. A Long Slow Season, No Hard Luck Kid, Free at Last (Let Me Find My Wings) and Watershed, with its opening chorus line, “And my heart opens like a flower, Drinking in the sun so long denied,” a hopeful future shines.
Anyone who has lain in bed at night with what I call “squirrel-cage brain,” the inability to stop thinking about problems that seem unsolvable, will relate to the upbeat Can’t Stop Worrying, and those concerned for friends or loved ones who clam up when they're troubled will understand right where Talk to Me About It, Baby and Speak from Your Heart are coming from. You Are Gone must have been written in the first fullness of grief at learning of the death of someone deeply loved, but even its straightforward expression of bereavement hints of a time of healing to come.
If I were forced to pick a personal favorite from these twelve heartfelt songs, it would be Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, Revisited. It's an up-beat reminder that while each of us has troubles, “everybody's in the same damn boat!” and that those whose lives may look “perfect” on the outside may not feel nearly so good on the inside.
As one reviewer commented, “People like Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin guest on your albums if you're that good.” Along with Jody and Kate, other guests include Eric and Suzy Thompson, Steven Strauss, Kaethe Hostetter, Irene Herrmann, Barbara Borden, Ray Bierl, Larry Hanks, Bill Evans, Jim Rothermel, Bruce Gordon, Mayne Smith, and Cheryl Ann Fulton, and of course, Hoyle Osborne, adding vocal harmonies, guitars, violin, banjo, string bass, percussion, piano, harmonica, tenor sax, accordion, dobro, clarinet, bowed psaltery, recorders and Celtic harp. This album has influences from traditional to Dixieland to Cajun to (even) early Rock’n’Roll styles.
Farther Down the Road comes in a heavy paper folder as opposed to a plastic “jewel box,” so it's even more environmentally friendly!
Get this album, turn on all the lights and listen to it over and over – it'll help you through the dark days of winter and bring springtime faster!
