Hattie Webb

Wild Medicine

 Hearts Connect

When you think of the classic stringed harp, you may associate it with classical music or jazz enthusiasts may evoke Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, or in contemporary terms Brandee Younger or Mikaela Davis. Rock and pop would rarely enter any discussion about the instrument. Welcome English harpist and singer/songwriter Hattie Webb, who may well change any preconceived notions you may have. Webb’s resume is gleaming with such collaborators as Sting, Glen Hansard, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell, Rick Rubin, The Avett Brothers & Natalie Maines and more. She’s appeared on five of Leonard Cohen’s albums and have played for royalty in England and Spain. This kind of reputation will turn heads; thus such guests as guitarist Eric Johnson, and Heartbreakers Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, Ron Blair, and Steve Ferrone., drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and Madonna’s writer Pat Leonard come aboard for Webb’s Wild Medicine, her second solo album. Members of Cohen’s touring band Javier Mas, Mitch Watkins, and Alex Bublitchi as well as formidable musicians such as guitarist David Grissom and squeezebox master Joel Guzman also contribute.Beyond the above, Webb began with her sister Charley as The Webb Sisters, who released their own music (notably 2000’s Peace of Mind, 2006’s Daylight Crossing, and 2011’s Savages) while touring with Leonard Cohen and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

The program, given these names, is suitably diverse – from Celtic folk to British pop to Americana and even classic rock as she injects a Bob Seger cover into the 15-song repertoire. Webb says this about the harp, “…There’s so much intensity and meat in the instrument, like a grand piano, and I really wanted to explore how that could translate into the songs I was writing.” Her co-writers include Paul Kelly, Campbell, Leonard, and Nina Baker among others as she explores some heavy stuff such as trauma, heartbreak, suicide prevention, and self discovery. Remarkably, she never gets maudlin or bogged down. She pulls it all off gracefully and with a sense of beauty befitting her instrument in these multiple genres.

An infectious drum pattern underpins the opening title track, co-written with Kelly, as Webb’s lovely floating voice hits every melodic note before she takes a couple of brief harp solos, backed by Tench’s glimmering piano. Single “Ruined in the Rain” is about a deep wound that never heals (“I don’t want to hurt no more”), prompting one to be on the edge of suicide.  Her message is to be guided by instinct and to be resilient and focused. She touches on another personal issue in “Never Just Your Daughters,” railing against gender-based violence and that directed toward women and girls. Campbell and Baker are the co-writers on the punchy “Night Soul” with the instrumentation framing Webb’s airy vocal with a mix of depth and resonance (co-producer Roscoe Beck favors reverb and echo effects). It’s one of several songs here where the harp seems a bit buried in the mix. One has to listen carefully to detect it. On the other hand, it is unequivocally prominent in the motoring “Golden” and  “Shakespeare’s Shores,” the latter co-written with Blair and is a wispy tune about turning the page and heading in a new direction.

Like “Night Soul” one can hear Campbell’s driving rock influence in “Hearts Connect.” His guitar fuels the rocker “A Song Called Love,” with its theme of freedom to choose. On the other hand, Webb’s vulnerability and self searching course through her ethereal originals “Love Springs Eternal” and “Forever” yet she changes it up on the poppy “Boy at the Beach,”  one of four co-written with her frequent collaborator Nina Baker.

“Waltz for Leonard,” is expressly for Cohen and co-written with his musical director Beck, a shining example of her harp playing and her flowing, oft whispery, otherworldly vocals. By contrast the harp becomes like an acoustic guitar as the only instrument behind her vocal in Seger’s “You’ll Accompany Me,” one of the nicest touches on the record as just a few others border on over produced.  A similar, albeit a bit more folksy vibe imbues the co-write with Paul Kelly, “Shine” where Guzman’s accordion blends well with Webb’s harp. “Chapters of Love,” co-written with Leonard, is another intimate tune that fits well in this group that constitutes most of the last third of the record.  To these ears, these are the strongest of several gems.

We certainly dropped plenty of names, Webb explored a few different approaches, but what rises above it all is her songwriting, an undeniable strength both lyrically and melodically.  You may well think of the harp differently from now on. Webb is on tour with David Gilmour in some our nation’s biggest arenas.  Her awareness will undoubtedly grow in a steep trajectory.

– Jim Hynes

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