Bailey Bigger - Resurrection Fern (2024) Hi-Res

Bailey Bigger has already spent a lifetime writing. Though the Arkansas native is just 24 years old, she began crafting her own stories as a child, spinning them into songs as a six-year-old. She started recording before she hit her teens and, as she approached young adulthood, EPs, awards for songwriting and TV placements followed. Now, at 24, she’s already releasing her second full-length album. Resurrection Fern is a seasonal tour through a year in a Southern life, penned by a sharp mind with an impeccable attention to detail.

Resurrection Fern begins with “William’s Spring,” a tale of rebirth (warmed in the sun by flute (from Alice Hasen) and mandolin (Andy Ratliff) which brings not only new life – “Everything is in color again/Spring has come to slow down the winds” but emotional awakening – “Clover floods my body with its kiss/And it feels the same as your lips.” Switching seasons, Bigger gives us “Witches & Warlocks,” which, despite its eerie title and haunting bowed saw (courtesy of Bruce White), is really about cold drinks, long porch talks and reminiscing of summers past – “The cigarettes on your breath/Are like memories to my mind, of another place, another time.”

Bigger’s songs focus on imagery, providing fragments of stories and asking the listener to fill in the details. The title track hints at the end of summer, with its shorter afternoons – “Dusk is on its way to kill the day.” And “Moonrise” is a gorgeous slow build that places us firmly in autumn – “You wake when the witching hour comes” – but also includes a promise – “Wherever I am in this world/Call me anytime and I’ll be your girl.” Winter, though, carries Bigger far from Arkansas, exchanging the relative wildness of the South – “Back home my dog ran with the coyotes” – for a safer (but less satisfying) domesticated existence – “Now we walk on leashes by the playgrounds in December.” While we don’t exactly know the reason for the move, it’s clear that the songwriter in Bigger is missing the defined turn of seasons, as well as whatever she’s (for better or worse) left behind – “But when I parted to go out to the city/I kissed the ground that always knew.” Change can bring growth, but, as Bigger discovers, it comes with a cost.

Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Prayer Gossip” – this quiet, introspective tune highlights Bigger’s hypnotic voice (along with Richard Ford’s subtle pedal steel and Krista Wroten’s soaring violin) as the singer finds conflict between youthful religious lessons and grown-up reality – “Making love becomes a crime/But it’s all just prayer gossip on their lips.”

Resurrection Fern was produced by Mark Edgar Stuart and Bailey Bigger, mixed by Matt Ross-Spang, engineered by Ross-Spang and Kevin Houston and mastered by True East Mastering. All songs written by Bailey Bigger. Musicians on the album include Bigger (vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo), Danny Banks (drums, percussion), Shawn Zorn (percussion), Will McCarley (drums, percussion), Scott Andrews (bodhran), Logan Hanna (electric guitar, banjo), Will Sexton (electric guitar, vibraphone, classical guitar), Wyly Bigger (piano, Wurlitzer, background vocals), Sarah Spain (background vocals), Mark Edgar Stuart (electric bass, upright bass), Richard Ford (pedal steel), Bruce White (saw), Alice Hasen (violin, flute), Krista Wroten (violin), Elen Wroten (cello), Andy Ratliff (mandolin) and Al Gamble (organ).