For more than two decades, Laura Cantrell has explored the traditions of country music through songwriting, performing and radio. This year, she is returning to one of the albums that helped define her career: Humming By the Flowered Vine, originally released in 2005.
Cantrell is marking the album’s 20th anniversary with a newly re-released edition and a tour. She’ll perform the album at the Rock Valley Schoolhouse on Sunday, Aug. 23, at 4 p.m., alongside longtime collaborators Mark Spencer and Jeremy Chatsky.
Looking back at the record, Cantrell says she hears an album that was more elaborate than her earlier work, which relied more heavily on home recording and the sound of her live performances.
“When you’re in the heat of making an album, it can be a kind of a fraught process,” Cantrell said. “You’re really sweating like different creative decisions.”
She had previously released two records through independent labels in the United States and United Kingdom. Those albums brought particular attention in the U.K. to her combination of original songs, contemporary songwriting and traditional and old-time country material.
For Humming By the Flowered Vine, Cantrell wanted to preserve that approach while making what she described as a more ambitious statement.
Cantrell’s work in radio also helped shape her musical perspective. Her early years at WFMU gave her the opportunity to introduce listeners to older country music while also connecting it to contemporary artists working within the tradition. She later hosted programs including Dark Horse Radio, exploring the music of George Harrison.
That experience, she says, made it natural to think of an album as a carefully selected set of songs that could express a particular point of view.
The anniversary reissue also includes an unreleased Schram song, “Hammer and Nails.” Cantrell says she was surprised when revisiting the track that it had not made the original album.
“I was like, why didn’t we put this on the album in the first place?” she said.
The song has now become part of the live set, giving Cantrell a chance to perform a piece that never had a place in the original touring repertoire.
She also says she has come to embrace the album’s more reflective moments rather than worrying about whether a live show needs to leave audiences with an upbeat feeling.
“Ah, let’s be moody,” she said. “Or let’s just feel how gorgeous this feels to play this together.”
Image Credit: lauracantrell.com