Following two independent sets, including the enchanting Early Mountain Songs, Kiki Cavazos releases Goodbye Blues via Brooklyn-based Jalopy Records. Her new songs, much like previous tracks, are memorable for their mythic narratives, detailed imagery, and hard-won wisdom. Most notable, however, is Cavazos’ timeless voice, which evokes the essence of what it is to be human and to experience the rush of beauty and the ache of impermanence.
On “Little Old Dusty Road,” the singer walks along a nameless route, pondering the great questions: “What is it makes a man part of these old roads? / It ain’t the things we seen or the places we’ve been to / It’s 10,000 happy fools and souls have gone before.” Clocking in at under two minutes, the track is surprisingly sublime, on one hand referencing palpable loneliness, on the other stressing the way individuals and generations are interconnected, the human story like an unbreakable string. Few singer-songwriters stir this much emotion, or invoke this much paradox, via such a minimal context.
