Laced with Stax-Volt horns, “Forgiveness,” the disc’s best song, is straight out of Memphis—see also, “Rise Up”—by way of the numerous small and large towns Birch lived in as a child of the military (crossing, as she says, the “lakes and mountains/ending up in Hollywood”). Good as “Forgiveness” is, everything else on Bible Belt is highly intelligent, hugely soulful and jammed with a jangly pop sensibility. “Valentino” bristles with a lighthearted infusion of pure happy pop. The opening of “Choo Choo” is a virtual sample of the organ work in The Doors “Light My Fire,” or in most any of The Doors’ organ work for that matter.
Avowedly an Elton John disciple, Birch’s piano work on “Ariel” could fit comfortably in an open slot on Tumbleweed Connection; in “Rewind,” on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road—which is to say it’s buoyant and forlorn and always emphatic.
That Birch can conjure so many comparisons on Bible Belt and yet remain defiantly distinct and wholly infectious is her greatest strength and her purest pleasure.
Bible Belt is the best pure singer-songwriter album I’ve heard this year.
Article comments
1 - Nancy Thornton
Diane Birch has a wonderful soulful voice that brings back good memories of growing up in the 60-70 genre.
Would recommend her music to anyone.