Album Review: Courtney Patton 'So This Is Life'

Known throughout Texas, Courtney Patton has a voice that is easily identifiable and easily embraced. That voice--warm, strong and enveloping--is the instrument utilized to its fullest in her latest release, So This Is Life. Due June 9th, the album, an exquisite and complete listen is comprised of twelve original story songs that under the production of Drew Kennedy, are beautiful and simple, scaled back and gracious. Fiddle and pedal steel play prominently throughout, but never overshadow Patton’s full vocals, allowing them to convey every ounce of honest emotion, whether heartache or happiness, in every vignette, to the listener.

Patton has the ability to channel grief, hurting and desolation so honestly, so perfectly, that the stories consistently elicit strong emotions. Preparations for a night out are interrupted in “Little Black Dress” where the heavy hearted feel of the fiddle is compounded when she sings: “She walks to greet him and he tells her he’s leaving and with a red face she's left all alone"/She don’t like to follow and pride’s hard to swallow when your throat’s all filled up with stones.” A tear, or twenty, will be shed on both “To Battle These Blues” and “Where I’ve Been.” The former is about the depression and disappointment that accompany heartbreak, especially during those dark hours. “I don’t need much, I’ve survived on less/But I’m worth a little if I ain’t worth the best./I gave you my heart and the rest is all up to you.” While in the latter, written by husband Jason Eady, she laments not getting the love she needs from the man who has become a stranger. “If you ever decide that you ever wanna try again, well I’ll be here in the morning just don’t ask me where I’ve been.”

Loneliness permeates “Need For Wanting” while “Her Next Move” leaves one empathetic to both parties as he waits for her to leave knowing “she wanted more than he could ever give.” Ripe for dancing the melody of “Killing Time” differs from the sentiment of the lyrics about a dishonest man. “You don’t have to admit you hurt me, I can see it in your eyes/You were good at spending that money not good at spinning lies/So you count your days paying for your ways locked up and killing time.”

The pull of work and home life is found in the pedal steel and percussive cadence of the rootsy “War of Art.” It provides a lesson for us all about that inner war that can, in a sense, take our life, and instead of losing yourself and settling, chose to live, honor yourself and forge ahead. “I’m gonna go against what was planned/I know you may not understand but I’d rather do it now than rust or rot/My passion is a cancer and I can’t cure it or find the answer ‘til I go and give it all I’ve got/So I’m gonna go and give it all I got.”

While those words strike a chord, it is the title track where the vividness of the lyrics is so real, it’s frightening. Detailing marriage and the life of a stay at home mom whose dreams, and herself really, got lost in a fairy tale that wasn’t, “So This Is Life” concludes that “this is life when losing is winning/when you see a new beginning in the form of goodbye.” It’s simultaneously agonizing and hopeful.

As life consists of a myriad of emotions, Patton makes sure that all is not somber. The tempo remains slow, but things turn brighter on the autobiographical “Twelve Days” detailing what a wife does when he is away on the road noting that “your side of bed seems to hate that I’m alone;” content on “Sure Am Glad” and reflective, loving and peaceful on “Maybe It’s You.”

The album closes with “But I Did” in which she sincerely and thoughtfully relates how she is like her parents, but also a dreamer who “found freedom in melody,” concluding with absolute honesty: “I don’t really know what I’m doing.” It’s a positive affirmation that can be universally understood: in life, we are all just trying to do our best.

So This Is Life is a realistic look, from a female perspective, at the twisting turning roads of life, detailing heartbreak, but also celebrating love and never losing sight of one’s self-for that is what can make a life one that is indeed lived. Simply beautiful, even when it is sad, So This Is Life is a treasure, one of the best records of the year so far.


For more information and to purchase So This Is Life, visit here

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