THE ALBUM Down That Road is a storybook of diverse subject matter expressed with delicate mastery. The sometimes spare, sometimes full production cradles themes of creativity, marriage, spirituality and death. The album plays earthy and intimate, sometimes vulnerable with Green?s own unique rhythmic guitar style as the foundation. The album is impressively self produced with a variety of mainly acoustic instruments, including cello, piano, harmonium, slide guitar, accordion, pedal steel, flugelhorn, wurlitzer, stand up bass and drums. Each song features Green?s unforgettable soprano voice which navigates through the thoughtful and heartbreaking lyrics with Root?s lush harmonies filling out the sound.
When conceiving this album, Green and Root wanted to make a CD that spoke to the issues which concerned them, things they talked about late at night or on the road, the things that made them crazy. They wanted to make a difference in the world somehow with their music. They strove to move away from songs about love and heartbreak, but what emerged taught them that love and heartbreak are inseparable from the human journey. The new songs broaden the notion of who we are in relationship with. Now the relationships are not just with a lover, but with oneself, one?s mother, the muse, a friend, a neighbor, the natural environment and its spirit.
Little did they know that in the middle of this project, the most traumatic and difficult thing Green had yet faced in her life would occur: her fit and active mother was diagnosed with and eventually taken by cancer. Through this awful tragedy, they recorded two new songs about Green?s experience with her Mom?s illness and death, "Lift My Head" and "Down That Road."
The line "I told you that I?d be ok, I?ll take my first step down that road" popped out and seemed to speak for many of the experiences Green and Root have been through, leading "Down That Road" to become the title track. These include their experience of 9/11, the steady decline of the environment, and their own personal journeys of healing through grief, as well as through love and marriage.
The writing on this album is credited to Green yet Root?s feedback and editing are essential to Green?s writing process. They describe their songs as "biographical pep talks" because "that?s what it feels like when we?re singing them." These songs are born from an aching place in the heart making them an accessible expression of the collective universal experience. With its potent blend of fresh and memorable songs, this album forges a path that gives us some insight into the struggles and triumphs of our lives. The going is not always easy or the path clear, but take a first step we must, Down That Road.
