Gabby Barrett returns with her deeply rooted country album – Chapter & Verse – out today
Gabby Barrett returns today with her sophomore album – a gorgeously detailed and personal glimpse into her life as singer, songwriter, wife, woman of faith and mother.
The album is deeply rooted in her religious beliefs – the title nodding to the chapters and verses within each book of the Bible. The album feels immensely mature – you can hear the growth that Barrett has experienced in the intervening years between Goldmine and this sophomore record, both in the material that she interrogates and in her delivery. This is an artist in full possession and understanding of her own artistic craft. The album reads very autobiographically in nature – commencing with ‘The Chapter,’ a souring anthem that shines a spotlight on her vocal chops, as she sings about the ups and downs of early adulthood. ‘I ain’t a kid but I ain’t all the way grown / And I’m making a mess but I’m making a home / I’m blazing the trails and I’m burning the biscuits / I still ask for help and God is still listening and / I’m finally letting go of things that don’t really matter / This is a chapter.’ It’s inspiring in its very acknowledgement of Barrett’s own path to understand early adulthood.
On this record, Barrett lays country as her foundation, digging her cowboy boots in further on ‘Cowboy Back,’ It’s a Twain-inspired boot-stomping tribute to men who embody the cowboy spirit. ‘Real men, once they give their word, they don’t go back / Takes a little more than a Bass Pro cap and Skoal ring in back / I want the whole truck and not the trucker hat.’ It’s delicious, tripping country fun. An easy stand out on the record comes on the third song, with ‘Dance Like No One’s Watching,’ a beautiful pedal-steel-laced homage to the strength of a father’s love. The track features background vocals from Luke Combs, who co-wrote the track before handing it off to Barrett, and is a powerfully emotional track from two of the most unique and strong vocalists in country music in this century. ‘And he said dance like no one’s watching / Whatever you do /And if life gives you love, fall in / But always be you.’ It’s magical.Another powerful emotional punch comes from the country radio hit, ‘Glory Days,’ where Barrett turns to her role as a mother as a theme, celebrating where she is now, enjoying her life with her children and husband. ‘No we ain’t gotta look back / At all those pictures in frames / And wish it all stayed the same / Cause right here, right now / I say these are the glory days.’ Barrett’s vocal is at its best, allowing space for a searing guitar solo. She returns to the theme again on ‘Growin’ Up Raising You,’ a tender look at all the fears and hopes of motherhood. ‘We’ll get it wrong, we’ll get it right / Whole lotta tears we’ll both have to cry / You’ll learn to run, I’ll learn to let go / Years will go fast, nights will go slow / Lord knows the best thing that I’ll ever do / Will be growing up raising you.’ It’s a beautiful, sweeping and loving look on motherhood that is tenderly and delicately delivered, couched in broad, expansive production.
There’s a lot more introspection and grace in Barrett’s songwriting on Chapter & Verse, nowhere more so than on ‘Had It All,’ a wistful and nostalgic exploration of her ‘perfectly imperfect’ childhood, traipsing around her childhood home. ‘That house ain’t our house anymore / And home ain’t walking through the door / I know they say you can’t go back / Sometimes I just need that feeling I felt in those walls / The smile like the pictures in the halls / We didn’t have it all together / But together we had it all.’ It’s powerful and expansive, before moving into a reflection on her own interiority on ‘Hard to Read,’ where she explores the more complicated parts of herself. ‘Oh, baby I’m hard to read / Give it time and you’ll see / I won’t hate the world when I get mad / Sometimes I don’t cry when I get sad.’ The penultimate track is one of her most powerful to round out the record, going further into an exploration of her own interiority, while celebrating her love and the steadfastness of her husband. ‘The way that you’re my everything / The way that I’d be lost without you / It just don’t feel like home without my arms around you / I don’t always make it easy / I don’t always say it right / But I promise you I do and I’ll love you / All of my life.’
There’s still plenty of love songs on the record, like ‘Off the Highway,’ a searing, driving country love song, delivered straight up. ‘Why don’t we find a red dirt parking spot / Boot on the dash I can land the shot / Toss me back while you can slide on over my way / Off the highway.’ It’s addictively fun. Elsewhere, more poignant, slowly burning love songs take centre stage, like ‘You’re My Texas,’ co-written with Miranda Lambert and Hillary Lindsey – the lyrics and ode to Foehner’s home state. ‘You’re my home away from home / You’re bluebonnets growing wild / Boy, no matter where I’m going / You’re my Nacogdoches sky.’ The songs are pure poetry and are a tender love letter to her husband. ‘Grow Apart’ is perhaps the most poignant celebration of love, where Barrett explores the beauty in a love that lasts. ‘Ain’t afraid to put some roots in the ground / Watch ‘em grow into hummingbird lilies in the yard / I ain’t afraid of growing old/Hair going all gray from gold.’ It’s pure poetry in its lyricism and is stunningly crafted.
Barrett roots her whole album in her religious faith, serving up introspective tracks like ‘Jesus on a Train’ where she questions what she’d do if she came across Jesus in her ordinary life. ‘If I saw Jesus at my church / With no shoes and an untucked shirt / Would I offer him a seat? /Or just turn the other cheek?‘ It’s beautifully done, filled with lush fiddle melodies that enliven the track. Later, on ‘God, Money & Love,’ Barrett teams up with Lori McKenna for a powerfully woven story, filled with wisdom. ‘One drives you to crazy / One’s way overrated / One can break you, one can make you / One you trust / One saves you from lonely / One’s your one and only / Bottom line, no matter what, you can’t get enough / God, money, and love.’ Finally, on ‘The Verse: Doxology (Amen),’ Phil Wickham joins Barrett for a glorious a cappella rendition of one of her most cherished hymns, underlining the importance of her faith throughout it all.
Chapter & Verse is a beautifully crafted record, placing her faith, her love and her family at its core. It’s a more mature sonic record than Goldmine, filled with expansive, country-hued production, but one that is lyrically more clever, more thoughtful and more introspective than her previous. For the record, she seems to have elicited some of the brightest talents in Nashville for songwriting and collaborating, the result has paid off.
