Singer and songwriter Martha Bassett has long been a
respected icon of the Triad music scene with her classically trained
voice, which has been described as “angelic” and “crystalline.”
This
month, with the release of her fourth album, “The Goodbye Party,”
Bassett gives listeners a glimpse of her personal diary with a versatile
palette of songs that either send shivers down your spine or make your
toes tap.
But Bassett didn’t write this diary of love and
loss alone. About half of the 12 songs were written by Bassett, the
rest by personal friends and band members: Sam Frazier (guitar and
piano), Pat Lawrence (bass), Eddie Walker (drums) and Ben Singer
(keyboards and banjo). Together, they lead a journey through the pathos
of loneliness and weariness but always with the hope and comfort of
coming home.
The opening track, “The Goodbye Party,” a
melancholy song co-written by Bassett and Singer, sets the tone and pace
for the rest of the album.
“We actually had the
title to this song before we wrote it,” Bassett says. “I think of the
song itself as a vignette of the idea of separation and loss. I like the
chorale at the end because it creates intensity and sets up the central
theme of the record.”
Bassett cranks up the mood with
“Leave Me Behind,” a song loosely based on the old-time tune “Pretty
Polly.” Bassett belts out the lyrics, “Show me you want me and mean it
this time or pick up your heart, boy, and leave me behind.”
“It’s funny that a song with such sad lyrics always makes people tap their feet and smile,” Bassett says.
One
of Bassett’s favorite songs on the album is “Whisper,” written for
Bassett by her longtime collaborator Sam Frazier and arranged by Josh
Weesner. A song about heartbreak and the end of a long-term
relationship, Bassett found this one difficult to sing in the beginning.
“
'Whisper’ was hard to sing at first because it was so personal, but now
it’s one of my favorites,” Bassett says. “Compositionally speaking, Sam
did a great job creating an arc that really lends itself to strings and
brass.”
Another personally painful song that Bassett
sings is “Holly Golightly,” a song about the wedding of Kelly Jo
Petersen Womble, an artist and gallery/shop owner in Winston-Salem and
one of the primary people responsible for revitalizing its downtown.
“Kelly
had been battling cancer and died shortly after her wedding, during the
recording of this disc,” Bassett says. “Clare Fader had written the
words for the wedding, and Sam helped set the music for the memorial
service, which is where I first sang it. It’s still very difficult to
perform this song live.”
In addition to originals,
Bassett sings covers from two local luminaries Bruce Piephoff and
Laurelyn Dossett, managing to channel their distinctive styles into her
own.
“My goal is not to establish myself as a great
singer/songwriter, although I’m very much learning the craft,” she says.
“My goal is to sing great songs. Every song on (the album) that wasn’t
written by me was written by a personal friend. That feels good.”
Bassett
and Frazier agree the difference in this album compared to her previous
releases was in the production. Both cite Pat Lawrence for his artistic
efforts on the album, and Bassett also credits him with having strong
ideas that she says created a denser and broader palette both
instrumentally and vocally.
“I’m a lucky girl,” Bassett
says. “These guys are my best friends, and we work so well together
creatively. It’s an unusual and precious thing, and I don’t ever take it
for granted.”
Contact Carole Perkins at CPGuilford@aol.com
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