Album review: Sue Decker – Keeping Time

Gordy the moose reviews some of his favourite new submissions to the Roots Music Canada virtual mailbox. 

Sue Decker launched herself into our consciousness this past March with a single that sounded like something straight off Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

“The Lost Ones” is about the growing rates of homelessness, addiction and street violence in our communities, and the complex feelings of fear and helplessness that arise in response.

It’s honest, mature and gritty, and it left us wanting to hear more.

Well the album that song was drawn from – Keeping Time – is out, and wow, does it ever live up to the promise of that lead-off track.

This is middle-aged woman’s Americana like we seldom hear it – and Heather, herself a middle-aged woman, says she’s here for it.

“Pretty Words and Flowers” is about sorting through the remains of a long-lost marriage and feeling nostalgic for happier times.

“Nobody’s Mother” is a heartbreaking song about the grief of hearing the biological alarm going off while circumstance prevents one from acting on it.

And “Love Made for a Lifetime” is a tear-jerker about watching elderly couples separated when one needs to go into care.

In between those heart-rending numbers are a couple of bluesier tracks. Namely, the swampy “Hummingbird” and the country-tinged “Cheatin’ Side of Town” – on which Sue demonstrates that she can also sound uncannily like Bonnie Raitt.

Steve Dawson brings his next-level production skills to this record, and his choices certainly help to cement the Car Wheels / Nick of Time vibe. But unlike some projects Steve has worked on, this one didn’t need his talents to elevate the songs.

Sue can write.

If the Canadian roots scene still had a star-making infrastructure to speak of, Sue Decker would already be headlining folk clubs, getting major festival bookings, and courting offers from labels, agents and managers.

Instead, it falls to me to tell you, “Listen to this album. Book this woman. Go see her shows. This might just be the best thing I’ve heard all year so far.”