The Whole Truth

Prologue

Chartline Reviews: Whiskey and White Lace

- Cecelia Rowe

Juliet Jacobs’ fourth album proves that the Texas country girl can still produce great music.

And, really, what a relief.

Bursting onto the country scene nine years ago, Passing Notes has become a true country-girl classic.

The debut album was the epitome of exactly what it was supposed to be, complete with youthful hopes and dreams and heartbreak and passion in the songs, with her fresh, crisp tone, and surprisingly controlled but expansive range.

Three years later, Jacobs’ highly anticipated second album, Backyard Stars, proved to be a sophomore slump. While it provided some memorable bops (we’re all looking at you, “Radio Dial,”) it was such a… disappointment.

If you were anything like me, you were still holding on to hope just as tightly as you clutched your physical record of Passing Notes, wanting to believe that Jacobs’ third album, Echoes, would prove that the struggles of Backyard Stars were going to be kept there: in the backyard.

Hopeful that she’d be able to break out from that in-between space she was in for Backyard, and go somewhere new.

… and if you were anything like me, you know that Echoes was exactly what the album title warned: echoes of her prior two albums. Leaning out of country – where we know Jacobs has the ability to shine – and into more of an indie-pop beat with a country lilt.

Going into Whiskey and White Lace, I wasn’t sure what we were going to get from Jacobs this time around. Was it going to be the final crash and burn of Juliet Jacobs?

All right, it couldn’t really be the FINAL one, because we’d still be waiting on that last release from her five-album deal with Copper Canyon… but would anyone actually still be around to listen?

She did it.

It was like Jacobs heard everything we’ve lamented about from her last two albums and said: bet on it.

Whiskey and White Lace is everything we loved in Passing Notes, but grown-up. This is finally the Juliet Jacobs we’ve been hoping to hear from for years.

Chartline Reviews: Bowling Alley Ballads

- Cecelia Rowe

Feb. 10

Me? Posting my music review, and it’s only Tuesday?

Forgive me, but I cannot fucking contain myself.

Who out there has known about We, The Romantics, and why the hell haven’t they come up on my radar until now?

This country trio burst – the only word that could possibly encapsulate their meteoric rise – onto the scene over the weekend, with their song “I’ll Drink to That” already at nearly 100 million streams in the last four days after having caught on fire on social media.

Immediately upon hearing this earworm, I sought out the entirety of Bowling Alley Ballads.

For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you the last time I was so gripped. Don’t stop at their viral song: do yourself a favor and go listen to the entire album. No skips, and that is a promise. It’s the most impeccable blend of country/folk pop in far, far too long.

Darcy Kincaid inarguably headlines the group, and her vocals are superb. Rich and resonant, wildly captivating, also supplying guitar and piano for different tracks… where has she been all of my audio-obsessed life?

We, The Romantics is rounded out by Blythe Kincaid (sister), and their lifelong friend, Emerson Merriweather.

While they both provide backing vocals and harmonies, it’s clear that every member of this group has their strength: Blythe’s physicality in her performances are gripping, and Emerson is clearly well-versed in…

maybe every instrument featured on the album? !

The trio hails from Pineford, Tennessee, and no, I had never heard of it, either. Population: ~1,200, and delightfully, yes, both Kincaid sisters did work at their local bowling alley!

Most impressively, this album was self-produced. These talented women have clearly spent years perfecting their work, and it shows.

If We, The Romantics aren’t THE next sensation – particularly through the country genre – I will have to quit my job.