Victoria Williams: Musings Of A Creekdipper

The desert does strange things to people, and even stranger things to musicians. The latest heat-baked musings from Victoria Williams provide further examples of this well-documented phenomenon. Recorded mostly in Joshua Tree National Park with the help of numerous notables—including multi-instrumentalists Joey Burns and John Convertino (Calexico, Giant Sand), drummer Brian Blade, Prince's former side-women Wendy and Lisa, and husband Mark Olson (ex-Jayhawks)—Musings Of A Creek Dipper is a ghostly tribute to the desert and the big thoughts (life, death, love) that lie hidden in the long shadows cast by the sun. The mostly molasses-slow tracks explore an odd, peyote-infused psychedelia, evoking distant, dusty vistas and empty highways. Williams' precious voice is well-suited to these unconventional songs, and tracks like "Grandpa In The Cornpatch" and "Train Song (Demise Of The Caboose)" strike a curious compromise between folksy traditionalism and unbridled eccentricity. It's this artistic contradiction, the meeting point between otherworldly mysticism and mundane corporeality, which lends Creek Dipper much of its hypnotic appeal and Williams' singing much of its heartfelt honesty.