Arts
Cowboy Music By A Guitar Girl
Cowboy Music By A Guitar Girl
Steph Pappas Grants "3 Wishes" with Intense Vocals, Driving Guitar, and Seamless Sides
by Tania Kupczak
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As a long-time dyke musician in Burlington and around the region, Steph Pappas is the stuff of legends. So I was eager to get a chance to review her newest album, 3 Wishes (on her own Guitar Girl label). I have to confess that I’m a sucker for packaging. 3 Wishes fell into my hands and I was immediately enchanted. I appreciate the printed lyrics and well-chosen photos. And there’s nothing like spurs to get my attention.
Any brief conversation with Steph will let you in on the intense conviction with which she lives her life. Hearing 34 minutes of it, when you pop the CD into your player, will convert you to the Steph Pappas Experience if nothing else ever has. It’s a ride on the ferris wheel, a drive on a back road, a trip across the lake, a climb up a mountain. Familiar and intimate, the album speaks to some dusty memories we forgot we had.
This is definitely cowboy music, and any brief glance at Steph will tell you she’s got a cowboy soul. As I read through the liner notes, I was a little leery of how often the trumpet was featured on many of the songs. However, this album and the talents of trumpeter Jennifer Larsen make one of the best cases that I’ve ever heard for the horn as a solo instrument with subtlety.
I play this game called “Instant Radio Hit” when I get a new album. I try to pick out the track most likely to get airplay on the radio. Nearly always, this is an obvious choice. 3 Wishes had me stumped.
I couldn’t decide which one would get the nod because the intelligent arrangement of tunes – beginning with a five-minute instrumental intro on “Somerville Maria” and winding up with the final sweet moments of “Crescent” – speaks of a concept rather than a simple collection of songs. The undeniable thread that moves from track to track is a combination of Steph’s remarkable vocals and her deliberate choices of accompanying musicians.
Steph’s press package acknowledges the close ties she felt with her collaborators, but I really didn’t need to read it to know. There’s cohesiveness in the recordings that can only come from the kind of musical relationships that move beyond the studio. The movement from melancholy ballads to rockin’ guitar-driven songs is effortless, because everyone seems to understand Steph’s vision and subtle story-telling.
It’s this particular feeling of personal investment that drew me to put to 3 Wishes on endless repeat on my stereo. My personal highlights include “Ferris Wheel,” a piece about a watershed realization at the Tunbridge Fair. It’s a bittersweet song about release, and as Steph croons her way through a couple of refrains of “Man, what letting go feels like ·” I feel like I’ve been let on the universal carnival ride of moving on.
I found myself stomping my feet at my desk during “Vintage Pappas,” while Steph displayed her mean harmonica skills. Then there’s “Val,” the tale of a girl who knew exactly who she wanted to be. Accompanied by some of the best guitar and violin playing on the album, we witness a woman who’s living out her fantasy of driving a garbage truck and dancing with girls. I can’t help nodding my head in agreement when Val says, “I feel like the grandest, coolest boy in this man’s world.” She’s a hard-won success story, like Steph herself.
I’m left wondering, though, exactly what Steph’s 3 wishes are. Knowing her solid politics, I’m guessing they’re something noble. But if she hoped for a beautifully crafted album, she’s received her wish. Having spent some time with 3 Wishes, it’s absolutely clear Steph Pappas is far more worthy of sporting a cowboy hat than Madonna.
If you want to hear Steph Pappas play some tunes from 3 Wishes, come to the release party at 135 Pearl, Saturday July 13th at 7:30 p.m. It’s $5 to get in but Steph promises no one will be turned away.
Tania Kupczak plays banjo – and listens to cowboy music – in Jericho.