Jolie Holland

Springtime Can Kill You (Anti-)

Jolie Holland’s rustic voice croons from a sleeper car on a long journey across the American plains. Envelopes of sunshine creep through the drawn blinds, coaxing the melancholic San Franciscan out of a nightlong fling with a bottle of moonshine and a beat-up acoustic guitar. Holland’s third album transcends the footfalls of history and blooms on the modern side of the folk/country/old-timey moon. “Like a stubborn beast when the barn is on fire, I might resist you when you try to save my life,” oscillates the former Be Good Tanya on Springtime highlight “Stubborn Beast.” Dipping beneath the wax, “Moonshiner” pulls Tom Waits out of Ralph Stanley, while the manic side of love swims in her drunken cover of Riley Puckett’s “You’re Not Satisfied,” a duet with David Dondero. As soon as LP closer “Mexican Blue” conjures up Nina Simone, Holland stamps it all her own with that unique, altering voice and softened presence. Holland’s cry seesaws from yelp to confirmation within tunes of heartache and resilience, her songwriting poetic yet blue-collar and blending that invisible socioeconomic line between genres.

***.5

This article appears in May 5 • 2006.

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