HELENE CRONIN
OLD GHOSTS AND LOST CAUSES
CARELESS WITH A HEART–MEAN BONE–HUMANKIND–DEVIL I KNOW–RIDING THE GRAY LINE–EL CAMINO FLY–IN A KISS–THE LAST COWBOY–GOD DOESN’T–MONGRELS AND MUTTS–GHOST
Helene Cronin labored for fifteen years playing and writing songs for other people before deciding to follow her own Muse and write and record for herself. Her first full-length set is entitled “Old Ghosts And Lost Causes,” eleven originals written wholly or in part by Helene. The set also features Kenny Vaughan on guitar, Heidi Newfield on harp, and Bobby Terry on acoustic and steel guitars and mandolin.
It’s Helene’s deep emotion and honesty that grabs you in this collection. She opens the proceedings with a tune that begins with youthful lust, and ends with a deeper, more mature understanding of how not to be “Careless With A Heart.” “Mean Bone,” one of our favorites, traces the genetics of a family filled with abusive men, blamed on DNA and that “mean bone” in all of ’em. Helene’s voice is at its most bluesy on this cut.
We had two other favorites, too. Showing love and compassion to others, something sorely lacking in society today, is the message in “nothin’ eases human pain like Humankind.” Our other favorite closed the set. Uniquely told from the perspective of the deceased husband, the “Ghost” of the departed torturously watches over the wife through a subsequent marriage, the family he never had, all the way thru her ensuing demise. It is a somber and thought-provoking piece, and a brilliant closing statement.
Helene Cronin’s songwriting and storytelling encompass Everyman. She faithfully stands beside the hopeless, the hopeful, and the mongrels and mutts in all of us and documents it to the fullest in “Old Ghosts And Lost Causes.” Until next time…Sheryl and Don Crow, The Nashville Blues And Roots Alliance.
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