A delightful single from Delaney Grant utilising little more than a guitar, a mandolin and a fiddle to make a quite complete sound. Although looking back at how you got to where you are is a well worn theme Delaney peppers her song with lots of little details and with a refreshing honesty that makes this one stand out from the crowd.
This is no cutesy look back at how things were, from the very start we are told about the door that
" Is a little harder to open, it's been slammed too many times
When Mom and me used to fight"
or the line
"Man was I naive" when recalling her Prom boyfriend who she thought was "the one"
There's a nice line drawn between accepting that you've changed as you've aged and moved from a small town while at the same time acknowledging that it is those formative years that are the basis of who you are, be it good or bad.
"I changed in a moment when I left home
Almost forgot where I came from
It's crazy how back then I couldn't see
What made me"
There's a lovely little couple of lines that are show that Delaney may not be as far from her small town roots as she thinks
"Being in a big city you get a little lost - and i'd be lying if i said I didn't cuss!"
With a nice line in backing vocals, the overall sound seems much more than the sum of its individual parts which are clearly identifiable. Delaney has a great warm vocal that will keep you coming back for more, with a natural talent for storytelling.
For those wanting a little more Delaney then "Home" is released with "What Made Me", where working with an even smaller palette of instruments, just guitar and mandolin. Delaney is able to cleverly conjure up a very vivid and believable picture of what family life was like in the Grant household growing up and in the surrounding area by being able to compare and contrast to her current surroundings so ...
"Miss Penney bakes pies Sunday afternoon" reminds her of her Gran, while the "honk of the interstate" reminds her of dirt roads blocked by tractors where the same horns would be blown. It's a great framework and all things from the cuddling couple to the old church are all able to evoke those memories for Delaney,
These reminders help "keep my feet on the ground" during the long periods she has to spend away.
When finally she is able to describe home she is able to pick out the key little things that make it "Home" for her
"To see my Daddy's smile", or "Drive the dirt road that runs for miles".
This release establishes Delaney's songwriting and observational credentials and it is easy to see why these two songs have been paired together as they show two completely different approaches of how to address essentially the same subject.
I