Seemingly incongruous pairings have illuminated popular music for decades, from a drugged-out [a]David Bowie[/a] duetting with a doddering Bing Crosby on TV to Isobel Campbell pairing with the Mephistophelian Mark Lanegan. Like these, the beatific tones of Cortney Tidwell are the perfect foil to the raspy, whisky-soaked growl of [a]Lambchop[/a]’s Kurt Wagner. The voices may be diametrically different, but ‘Invariable Heartache’ is a record steeped in its own Nashvilleness, as are the players. The juxtaposition of the melancholic with the mellifluous melds majestically atop delicate lap steel, brushed drums and double bass on this country tearjerker.
Jeremy Allen
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