When there is so much buzz around a new artist and their debut record, it can typically go one of two ways: live up to the hype or fall flat. When Americana newcomer Dori Freeman’s self-titled album releases February 5th via Free Dirt Records, it will be clear that the buzz was indeed warranted….and deservedly so. Seeming to emerge on one’s musical radar from out of nowhere, the Galax, Virginia native’s album is truly a bright star in the year’s releases thus far. Freeman’s album contains mature, insightful songwriting on ten well-written tracks. All self-penned, these songs represent Freeman’s musical upbringing and span various musical styles on songs dealing with broken hearts, unfaithfulness, disappointment and the feelings of wavering between wanting someone to stay and wanting them to go. With strikingly simple production, Freeman’s vocals are the centerpiece of the album; pristine, pure and clear, calling you to listen and conveying words and emotions with ease and to great effect. Starting off with the classic country sound of “You Say,” Freeman sings with a resigned sadness of wanting a relationship, but also affirming “I’ll be damned if I need any man to come to my rescue.” Beautifully haunting with wrenching lyrics of a relationship unraveled, “Where I Stood” asks “Can you really hurt somebody if nobody saw?.......You’re wastin’ my love & I’m wastin’ your time.” Heartbreak (amplified by pedal steel and keys) abounds on the shuffling “Go On Lovin'” “How am I supposed to go on lovin', how am I supposed to go on love, how am I supposed to go on lovin', when you left me feelin’ like I don’t know how?”; then takes a different tune on the du wop style of “Tell Me,” where although she pretends it doesn’t matter if he leaves, she admits honestly that she would do anything to make him stay, as well as the soulful “Fine, Fine, Fine” where after offering her heart unguarded, it becomes clear she’s the one “paying for your crimes.” There are songs reflecting on lost love (“Any Wonder” and “Song For Paul”), and those that offer vignettes of hard working lives (the gospel-blues acapella “Ain't Nobody”) before the album closes with “Still A Child,” a kind of kiss-off, if you will, where she finally realizes the man she has been torturing herself over isn’t worth it. “Burn all your bridges I don’t really care…You say you’re sorry, but don’t know what for ‘cause you are still a child.” Perceptive words from a woman wise beyond her years, Dori Freeman is a stunning debut.
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October 2018
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