Revival

Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Brilliant..." Alternative Press - 3 (out of 5) - "...Welch has a thin, clear voice with a soft, melodic nature that gives her classically styled folk-country songs a timeless quality..." Entertainment Weekly - "...a ringer for a real Appalachian, if not the long-lost li'l sis to the Stanley Brothers. Twangy tales of forlorn farm laborers, grieving moms and lovers, and Jesus sound impossibly authentic....[REVIVAL] gets an early lead on debut-of-the-year honors." - Rating: A Village Voice - Ranked #23 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Uncut - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Welch's Grammy-nominated debut heralded the dawn of a rare talent..." Q - 3 out of 5 stars - "A Los Angeleno Pixies fan who sounds like some God-fearing 1920s Appalachain farmer's wife....graveyard voice...[and] skeletally-picked guitar..." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "REVIVAL's retro sheen made way for austere acoustic sorrow, never more affecting than on 'One Morning'..." Village Voice (2/25/97) - Ranked #23 in the Village Voice's 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Q (1/02, p.123) - 3 out of 5 stars - "A Los Angeleno Pixies fan who sounds like some God-fearing 1920s Appalachain farmer's wife....graveyard voice...[and] skeletally-picked guitar..." Entertainment Weekly (5/3/96, p.78) - "...a ringer for a real Appalachian, if not the long-lost li'l sis to the Stanley Brothers. Twangy tales of forlorn farm laborers, grieving moms and lovers, and Jesus sound impossibly authentic....[REVIVAL] gets an early lead on debut-of-the-year honors." - Rating: A Uncut (9/03, p.92) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Welch's Grammy-nominated debut heralded the dawn of a rare talent..." Alternative Press (6/96, p.92) - 3 (out of 5) - "...Welch has a thin, clear voice with a soft, melodic nature that gives her classically styled folk-country songs a timeless quality..." Uncut (11/01, p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Brilliant..."

The debut album by Gillian Welch is aptly titled. In an alt-country scene primarily focused on adapting the sound and feeling of old-time traditional country to its own ends, this singer-songwriter, along with her ever-present musical partner David Rawlings, is more interesting in taking the sound of the Carter Family and transplanting it whole into the middle of the 1990s. T-Bone Burnett produced the album with such a sharp eye towards period authenticity that even the occasional modern musical elements (bits of electric guitar and drums, and keyboards) sound of a piece. The songwriting is uniformly excellent, with mature, emotionally resonant songs like "Orphan Girl" sitting comfortably next to such bluesy character pieces as "Tear My Stillhouse Down". Although Welch's future albums would maintain this high level of quality, REVIVAL is an impressive debut of a richly talented singer and songwriter.|