Dirt Yard Street
Self-Released, 2020
9/10
The Atlanta based singer-songwriter Clay Harper has remained quite busy in his musical career, playing in bands like The Coolies and Ottoman Empire, as well as penning Children’s albums, Lately, he’s been going the solo route, and he returns with a handful of stripped back, vulnerable stories on the plaintive beauty that is Dirt Yard Street.
Harper starts the listen with the title track, where Tom Gray’s dulcimer and dobro help set a very intimate and warm setting of bare folk sounds, as Harper’s raw, raspy voice suits the organic landscape well, and it’s not long until the sparse and emotive “Life On A Windowsill” enters, where Chris Case’s piano prowess make an impression amid the expressive, dreamy environment.
Further on, the heartbreaking “All The Mail Comes To Neighbor” uses Case’s keys and Ana Balka’s violin to help paint a very desolate portrait of despair, while “Maybe I’ll Be There” takes on a soulful quality as Jordan Dayan’s agile bass plucking complements the jazz ideas present. “Somewhere There’s A Fire Waiting” exits the listen and recruits banjo from Rick Taylor alongside Balka’s strings, displaying a country versus orchestral slant that also embraces blues and bluegrass on the album standout.
It’s not hard to think of Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits when listening to Dirt Yard Street, which could never be a bad thing, as Harper pulls from a life well lived that’s embodied the lowest of lows (drug addiction, losing his wife to cancer), which he has turned into moving, reflective, timeless song craft.
Travels well with: Cat Stevens- Back To Earth; Don McLean- Botanical Gardens