Neko Case -- "Guided by Wires"
The prevalent twang that Neko Case affects here has vanished from her songs over the last decade, but while she had it she really knew how to use it. Whether the twang is a put-on or not, Case knows how to sing, and the thing I always get from her music is a sense of the pure inescapable joy of being able to blow air through your vocal cords like you really mean it. And she means it.
This song is ostensibly a thank-you to those who were "singing my life back to me," but it's also a testament to inner strength, as well. The sound nods back in the direction of Lone Justice, and one of Case's great talents is her knack for surrounding herself with excellent musicians -- her "Boyfriends," as she called them at the time -- particularly, in the early stages of her career, the Good brothers from Canadian country-psych band The Sadies and Joey Burns and Jon Convertino from Calexico. I'm not sure which Good is playing the lead guitar on this track, but it's worthy of an award for covering all of the bases of country guitar, classic and contemporary. This song is catchy as hell, and the hard-won sense of self that it offers is inspiring without being cloying.
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