It was well before the show started at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg, one cold night in 2018, and there were about three people there waiting for Jonathan Wilson. Besides me, there was Nancy McArthur and a friend, who asked for the lowdown on Wilson, having never seen him before. We got to chatting and Nancy told me about her work in theater and music. The next day she sent me her album, Shenandoah, a resonant collection of songs based on a theater piece she created and had come out the year before.
I stayed in touch but, except for a few pandemic-era live streams, somehow kept missing her shows. But new songs seemed to be being born, slowly assembling into a new album, I Would I Were Thy Bird, which was released today. It’s an album with a mood that seems to deepen as you listen, with McArthur’s delicate voice given structure by a certain toughness, like an Appalachian Nico by way of Long Island City. Listen to the last track, Vengeance, to get the flavor.
I love this last stanza, which leads perfectly into the chorus:
If it's any kind of consolation
I can see every star at night
Yeah, I'm reading all the constellations
Like a self-help book on being alright
Don't take offense that I don't
Have time to spend for I have
So many miles left of my mind
To mine for gold
To mine for gold
Now it’s up to you to mine more gold from I Would I Were Thy Bird.
I’m hoping to make it to the release show on December 15th at Brooklyn Music Kitchen. See you there?