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Joan Shelley Admires The Beauty In All The Fading

Joan Shelley's songs have the sturdy, classic construction of folk tunes. But even when the tone is serene, there's a distinctly modern restlessness lurking below the surface.
Joan Shelley's latest album, <em>Like The River Loves the Sea, </em>is out now.

There's been no shortage of great music by soft-spoken women playing acoustic guitar in 2019. But if you pay attention to one song in that vein this's breathtaking latest album,It's an elegy tuned to the present moment hitting ominous notes of environmental dread, glaciers disappearing, things breaking down. You can tell that Shelley is rattled, but gracefully sidesteps despair on the refrain.

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