Steady On

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Shawn Colvin's debut album, Steady On. As I've mentioned before, I was a fan of Colvin before she ever released an album, and she performed on the folk music circuit in New York City (the first I ever heard her was probably on Vin Scelsa's radio show, Idiot's Delight). I listened to Steady On again this week and it holds up magnificently, in fact may still be her best record.

Colvin was in her thirties when this album was released, so had years of material. They always say you have your entire life for your first album, and just a year or so for your second. There are no bad songs on the album, but it is front-loaded, with the three strongest songs leading off.

The title track kicks things off, and like many of the songs, it's about the problems of love. It would appear to be about a woman who has discovered her fella is not all she thought he was, but she will keep going:

"China gets broken
And it will never be the same
Boats on the ocean
Find their way back again
I am weaving
Like a drunkard
Like a balloon up in the air
I am needing a puncture and someone
To point me somewhere
I'm gonna keep my head on straight
I just hope it's not too late
Open up the gate
I go straight on, steady on"

Colvin is a gifted lyricist, as well as having a wonderful voice, that is somewhat girlish but also pointed when expressing difficult emotions. The production, by John Leventhal and Steve Addabo, is also pitch perfect. Colvin performed solo with an acoustic guitar, but the album gets some instrumentation, but it is subtle and doesn't overwhelm her songs.

The second great song is "Diamond In The Rough," which is a bit more hopeful, about a woman who is hanging on to someone like the jewel in the title. The third song, which I believe is a masterpiece, is "Shotgun Down The Avalanche," a metaphor for a break-up:

"I love you so much and it's so bizarre
A mystery that goes on and on and on
This is the best thing and the very most hard
And we don't get along
 After countless appeals we keep spinning our wheels
On this mountain of new fallen snow
So I let go the catch and we are over the edge
You have left me nowhere to go"

Steady On won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk album. The contributors include Suzanne Vega (you can hear her clearly on backing vocals of "Diamond In The Rough") and Bruce Hornsby.