Whispering strings that dance beside delicate vocals male and female the same in “Waltz Through the Ages.” Hustling through a simple groove with exotic swing in “Be Better to Your Neighbor.” Restless in “Hillbilly Lilly” and the patient “Without Forgiveness” or obsessed with the pursuit of boundless melodic catharsis in “Dyin’ to Hold Her Again” and “Let Me Be the Bridge,” Jerry Salley is on his game as always in the sixth full-length installment to his discography, Bridges and Backroads. Released last year to less than the usual fanfare a record by someone of his caliber would standardly attract due to COVID-19’s effect on the industry, Bridges and Backroads unmistakably captures a warmly pastoral sensibility all too absent from much of popular music today (and without intellectual arrogance, to boot). This may well be the most complete effort Salley has ever compiled as a solo artist, but if you’re a fan of bluegrass music, I think you knew this LP was going to be a surefire hit beforehand.
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You don’t have to be a longtime listener to recognize the experience this player has in any of the performances here, but in the singles “I Miss My Miss in Mississippi” and “Let Me Be the Bridge,” along with Salley’s collaboration with Rhonda Vincent in “Waltz Through the Ages,” his play makes it even more obvious than it already would have been. There are several occasions on which he relies on tempo to shape the narrative as much as his own words do (“Without Forgiveness,” “I Take the Back Roads”), but rarely does it ever sound like he’s stretching himself too thin aesthetically or turning over the lion’s share of the heavy lifting to frills and featured guests. The emotion seeps through the lyrics and the instrumentation from “I Miss My Mississippi” to “Life to My Days” effortlessly, and when all is said and done, I think Bridges and Backroads will eventually be named one of the most straightforward sets of songs to bear Jerry Salley’s name in the byline.
Bridges and Backroads
Listen to Bridges and Backroads on Spotify. Jerry Salley · Album · 2020 · 12 songs.
A sleeper hit that has been waiting to find its audience, Bridges and Backroads is a record you just can’t go wrong with if you’re into bluegrass music. I love the style of Salley’s sixth album, and while it puts a lot of statements out to the listener right off the bat, I don’t know that there’s ever been a better time for his poetic bluntness than the present. There’s been a lot of mainstream interest in bluegrass and roots music in the past two years, and for those looking to get a taste of what the genres can produce at their most refined, the Grammy-nominated Jerry Salley should be considered a go-to source for magic universally. He’s undisputedly renewed my interest in his output with the release of this identity piece, and if you haven’t already heard Bridges and Backroads, I think you should make a point to do so as the weather warms and rustic strings take on a weightier melodic value than any other time of year.
Clay Burton