Meredith Lane - Greyhound (2023) Hi-Res

Meredith Lane is an Alt Rock and folk artist who grew up playing music near the mountains of Joseph Oregon. She is known for her genre jumping tunes, soulful voice, and heartfelt lyrics. Greyhound is a fully formed concept that sees Meredith leaning into her Americana, western, and roots music beginnings and expanding into rock and alt-genres.

The album opens on the electric barre chords of “Ironies,” and Meredith’s silvery, solid voice considering places left behind. The song builds into an ebullient jam between drums, lead electric, and Meredith’s vocal runs, skipping through the madness to get to the point. First time listeners will turn it up to eleven and break the dial up when Meredith sings “I think I could love you, until the day I die / so it’s a shame, shame, shame, we gotta keep on saying goodbye” as harmonizing with the peal of electric guitar. They’ll be duly rewarded because “Greyhound” takes the album back to the salad days of classic rock. Arpeggiated chords echo, and drums skitter around Lane’s vocals that sound like they’re being sung to you from the early 1970.

Lane has a pen as powerful as her voice, she sings like 70s era Linda Rondstadt, and her music is a dead ringer for Lillith Fair era 90s alternative. You just know when someone listens to good music. “Know You” makes one nostalgic for 90s era alternative, and just a few bars in Paul Niehaus’ (Calexico, Justin Townes Earle, Iron & Wine, Lambchop) pedal steel begins to seep from it’s edges. Between these elements and Meredith’s voice the song becomes an irresistible bop around blind love’s beginnings -and eventual ends. Meredith keeps it buoyant with a catchy chorus and eventually the album’s second single becomes an empowering anthem about growth, making even the pedal steel sound happy. As an ode to lower resolution, pre-internet days she starts the positively punk “Bitter” in a tinny, distant warble. The song -about coming of age, and the things that change- is a great example of Meredith’s live presence, able to go from mournful lows to gleeful highs in a moment’s notice.

Before you realize it, you’ll be on a journey with Meredith, escaping dead ends, and headed for the open road. The album is about setting off on your own, then realizing maybe you always have been. She’s at her Nashville best on “Gas Station Baby” a heartbreaker about “motel ladies, comeback joans’, and mean diva queens that hearkens back to late 60s era road songs Rita Coolidge or Jessi Colter might have turned out for RCA. Pedal steel here provided by Brett Resnick (Kasey Musgraves, Sierra Ferrell). Keeping it moving, Greyhound hits a country-funk note on “Casting Shadows”, reaching into the deeper end of Meredith’s endless vocal register, and steadily building speed. The band takes the song to surprising highs while Meredith keeps it on the road with her steady voice.