Springtime Can Kill You
Just when you think you’ve pinned down the voice of Jolie Holland, it shifts. The same quavering note steeped in Billie Holiday intertwines with Lucinda Williams and a touch of a twanged-up Fiona Apple to make Holland’s own kind of Americana. It’s a voice that will either annoy or enchant you with its jazz-inflected hillbillyness. In this, the follow-up to her 2004 studio debut, Escondida, Holland surrenders to a bittersweet spring of mockingbirds, moonshine, crazy dreams, thistle and honeysuckle. With a modest chorus of steel and electric guitar, upright bass, piano and even a momentary tuba, she leads you to a place where you dangle your feet in cool creek waters or sit on a wooden porch, whistling in a minor key.