Red River Dialect – “My Friend”

Theres a shadow of Fairport on the new LP from Red River Dialect — knotted folk that seeps into harder forms and latches onto experimental moorings. It’s the most prominent shadow over Abundance Welcoming Ghosts, but on “My Friend” the specter of John Martyn seems to loom larger for just a moment. David Morris channels the furrowed lines and nimble grooves of the veteran UK folk icon, specifically finding his footing in the mode of Martyn’s seminal Solid Air. Like that record, the song saddles celebratory ripples with the burnt cedar smell of regret. Morris is aided in no small part by slide guitar from Tara Jane O’Neil, who is a welcome addition to the band for this track. Prior to the album Morris had sequestered himself away for nine-months of meditation, and the results build stories upon stories above last year’s Broken Stay Open Sky. This is Morris at his most focused, etching his tale in the rock and painting it across the walls with the pigment of earth and wood. He’s at his most pastoral, but also his most potent on this one.