Nellie McKay - My Weekly Reader (2015/2018) [Hi-Res]

Nellie McKay is a wonderful, complicated idiosyncrasy: a pop singer who isn’t a fawned over superstar, a multi-instrumentalist in an era when singers can barely play “Chopsticks,” and a historian of popular music who puts the song before her ‘interpretation’ of it. In short, she’s extraordinarily talented and unique. Geoff Emerick, who engineered a number of The Beatles’ albums, has been a key collaborator as her producer from her debut Get Away from Me (2004). She can also sing in any genre: Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, Country, Jazz, Great American Songbook. She feels like the granddaughter heir apparent to Dinah Washington and Rosemary Clooney.

From the title My Weekly Reader, recalling the urban underground press’ heyday, to the production that initially sounds like the move from mono to stereo, this sounds like the late ‘60s. However, she presents further nuance especially in Moby Grape’s “Murder In My Heart For the Judge,” which speaks to urban unrest in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin killing and the Ferguson, MO riots and Crosby, Stills, and Kantner’s “Wooden Ships,” a haunting, wistful note on which to end the album. She sounds like she could be Mary Hopkin’s younger sister on Steve Miller’s “Quicksilver Girl” or Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park,” and even channels the profound sadness of Sandy Denny on Ray Davies’ “Sunny Afternoon.” It’s a treat to hear Paul Simon’s “Red Rubber Ball,” and Frank Zappa’s “Hungry Freaks, Daddy.” I didn’t love Richard Fariña’s “Bold Marauder,” mainly because it seemed musically monotonous and her straight ahead version of”Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” is respectful, but it doesn’t reveal her in the way of Rickie Lee Jones’s 1989 version.

"Last time Nellie McKay took a stroll through the past, she doffed her hat at Doris Day, an obvious tribute for a singer as besotted with the stage as Ms. McKay. My Weekly Reader, the album that functions as the sequel to 2010's all-original Home Sweet Mobile Home, is a surprise as it shines a spotlight directly on some of the shadowy corners of the '60s. Despite opening with a cover of the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" and a leisurely reading of the Beatles' "If I Fell," McKay doesn't spend much time with the familiar. She gravitates toward folky introspection and songs that allow her to strut, two kinds of vintage styles that suit her well, but My Weekly Reader also shows her fondness for weirdo social satire, a quirk that at first glance seem like an odd fit for the singer. Upon second glance, Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention's "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" and Moby Grape's "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" seem odd: they're stage-bound theatrical productions fueled by cutesy curtseys, an attitude that unravels during the latter as McKay threads in protest lines from 2014, ending with a whispered "I can't breathe." Nevertheless, that ambition is admirable and its very presence is appreciated, particularly compared to the lighter pop tunes of Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park" and Herman's Hermits' "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter," tunes that allow McKay to mince about more than necessary. Where My Weekly Reader shines is on the quieter moments, which range from the loveliness of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Wooden Ships," the nostalgic gleam of Gerry & the Pacemakers' "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," and the spookiness of Richard & Mimi Fariña's "Bold Marauder." Here, McKay achieves a delicate balance between '60s reverence and a sly modern wink, a blurring of eras that plays to her strengths." (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

Béla Fleck, banjo
Bob Glaub, electric bass
Nellie McKay, bells, clarinet, congas, cymbals, harmonica, keyboards, maracas, marimbas, organ, piano, tambourine, ukelele, all vocals
Cary Park, banjo, 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar
David Raven, drums
Dweezil Zappa, guitar (on "Hungry Freaks, Daddy")