Rhythms Magazine by Martin Jones

The first most of us heard of Canadian singer-songwriter Tracy McNeil was as one half of Fireside Bellows. Jordie Lane recognised the talent and integrity in Tracy’s music when he discovered her soon after she moved to Melbourne in 2007 and their No Time To Die record was a thing of welcome beauty conjuring echoes of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Since then both Lane and McNeil have returned to their solo ventures, the latter gathering herself a band – guitarist Matt Green, drummer Bree Hartley and bass player Rod Boothroyd – to help her work up, tour and record new material. The result is a more robust proposition than Fireside Bellows, the electric band lending McNeil’s music grit and muscle, and her voice emerging all the stronger with such backing. Add to that some tasty input from the likes of pedal steel guru Garrett Costigan, Steve Hesketh on Hammond organ, Liz Stringer on banjo and cello, and Greg Field on fiddle. There’s conviction in every note that McNeil sings, and that’s the first thing you hear on Fire From Burning. Then you begin to notice the more subtle qualities – the tone and touch of the playing, the craft of McNeil’s songwriting, the lyrical integrity, the emotive push and pull of the combined elements.

Her songs ring with the kind of universal authority that lends them weight and gives the impression that McNeil is raiding some lost American troubadour songbook. To hear a trio of songs like ‘Uncharted Ground’, ‘Ride Home’ and ‘In My Time’ all in a row causes you to doublecheck their origins. Yes, all written and sung by Tracy McNeil.

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