I admire any musical artist who can make an impact by pouring old wine into new bottles. Rock Hearts, a bluegrass band from the New England area, is especially adept with the aforementioned talent. Their new thirteen-track studio album Unfinished Bridges attests to their creativity, individuality, and thorough understanding of bluegrass as a musical style.
They are far more interpreters than they are original songwriters. Mandolin player Billy Thibodeau co-writes two of the album’s thirteen cuts while guitarist Alexander MacLeod chips in two of his compositions. Rock Hearts culls Unfinished Bridges’ remaining nine tracks from the cream of the crop in bluegrass songwriting.
The title cut is an ideal example. Mark Brinkman and Eric Gnezda’s exemplary songwriting for “Unfinished Bridges” demonstrates great aesthetic beauty, hard-won wisdom, and aching emotion framed within a tasteful musical arrangement. Leading off with the album’s title song is a confident move. It sets out one of the album’s primary thrusts and resonates with unquestionable authenticity.
Musicianship runs high during the title song and continues during the second cut “Walk Away”. This is one of the top-notch examples of the songwriting excellence Rock Hearts calls upon throughout the entirety of Unfinished Bridges. Interplay between the musicians is a highlight, of course, but I am especially an admirer of the song’s straightforwardness. The underlying fundamentals of “Walk Away” are unimpeachably consistent and play to the band’s personal and collective strengths.
“I Know It’s Wrong to Love You” is another personal favorite. The same perfectly realized fundamentals powering the earlier “Walk Away” are responsible for this song’s success, albeit in a different context. Classic country balladry rules the day here. It’s a sterling weeper in that grand tradition, never crass, but never afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. Refurbishing it in the bluegrass tradition does nothing to dilute its potential.
The instrumental “Town Hall Clock”, authored by Sam Tidwell, affords Rock Hearts a different platform for exhibiting their instrumental prowess. Each of the band’s instrumentalists acquits themselves well. “Tall Strands of Timber” is one of Unfinished Bridges’ peak moments. The Rick Lang/Theodore Chase DeMille-written gem leans on narrative strengths and delineated characterizations that other tracks never share. It arguably does a better job musically invoking a sense of place that conforms to Lang/DeMille’s songwriting vision.
The straightforward plonking driving “On My Mind” miraculously never sounds flat-footed. Rock Hearts gasses up its rhythmic step enough so that it imbues the familiar musings on longing and heartbreak with noticeable, if improbable, jauntiness. Tackling this song at a mid-tempo pace sounds like the perfect slant. One of the album’s final tracks, “Let Me Be the Best Bible”, is an outstanding example of the band’s purist intentions in action. It’s guitarist Alexander MacLeod’s second song on the collection and far outpaces its admittedly fine predecessor. Fantastic multi-part vocals, deceptively simple lyrics, and an unusual songwriting message where the “speaker” aspires to embody the Bible in their everyday lives. The earnestness is audible.
Passion is audible as well. Rock Hearts embodies their musical dedication and personal convictions throughout the entirety of Unfinished Bridges, and it results in one of 2024’s most compelling releases.
Mindy McCall
