Spotlight Album Review: Paula Cole "American Quilt"

Four years ago, Paula Cole, who made her name as a protégé of Peter Gabriel and a Grammy winner for Best New Artist in 1998, released an astonishing album, Ballads. They were ballads in the loosest sense, comprising songs from the popular songbook, along with vintage Bob Dylan tunes and “Ode to Billy Joe.” This spring she’s topped herself with American Quilt, which she describes as “a patchwork of heritage, a stitched-together history of culture, both painful and beautiful.” It’s an easy choice to be the Spotlight Album for June.

Two songs stood out for me on first listen. She invests one of my favorite standards, “You Don’t Know What Love Is” with deep longing and an unfussy arrangement, with Jay Bellerose on drums, Dennis Crouch on upright bass, Consuelo Candelaria-Barry on piano, and Kevin Barry with a captivating guitar solo. Cole’s history with Bellerose and Barry goes back to their time as students at Berkelee College of Music in Boston, where they remain as members of the faculty. (Consuelo-Barry, who is married to Kevin Barry, is also on the faculty, surely a “college of musical knowledge.”)

The second track that took my breath away was the traditional folk song, “Shenandoah.” The impetus to “cross the wide Missouri” is reflected in American Quilt’s foray through the musical landscape. “Shenandoah” becomes an epic, Celtic-influenced seven-minute journey, complete with Seamus Egan on pennywhistle and Peter Eldridge and Darcel Wilson (both Berkelee teachers) on majestic backing vocals.

Darcel also contributes to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” a gospel folk song often attributed to Johnny Cash. “Black Mountain Blues” is more of a country blues, with Paula’s ballsy vocals and guitar solo by Kevin Barry and fiddle solo by Kathleen Parks. Barry also contributes an electric guitar solo to Jimmie Cox’s “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” (popularized by Bessie Smith), which uses a trombone to get a ‘20s feel. In a stirring move, Paula takes the spiritual “Steal Away” and merges it into her original “Hidden in Plain Sight,” written during the pandemic.  

Another heartfelt song is the traditional ballad, “Wayfaring Stranger,” which uses the image of “crossing over Jordan” to give hope, as Paula puts it, “for world-weary travelers.” Among the other pop standards, which are part pf Paula’s musical DNA, there is Ervin Drake’s bittersweet torch song, “Good Morning Heartache,” and a minimalist “Bye Bye Blackbird,” which features Paula’s scat singing – yet one more example of her versatile vocals. The album closes on a sweet and simple note with the welcome benediction, “What a Wonderful World.” Thank you, Paula, for this reminder of the healing power of music after a trying year.