Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
I first heard Anchorage, AK-raised, now Seattle-based (by way of Texas) troubadour Norsworthy a decade ago, on his 2003 third LP Stateside, and was impressed with his spare yet colorful, Simon & Garfunkel/Bob Dylan-influenced acoustic folk. Perhaps the opening “I’ve Changed My Ways” is a thinly-veiled signal to his directional shift on this sixth album, which finds him veering into traditional, old-timey blues, complete with the genre’s characteristic repeated phrases and chord progressions (not to mention having six of its 11 song titles end with the word “Blues”).
Although Norsworthy was recorded here accompanied only by his haunted electric guitar and a lightly-tapped bass drum or floorboard, engineer Ben Jenkins ensures The Key sounds rich and full-bodied. Each pluck of his strings is echoed and resonant, like he was trying to fill every nook and cranny of an empty church, while a few songs like “Going to Brownsville” and “Falling Down Blues” even evoke a Nick Drake-like splendor. Meanwhile, his breathy, reassuring voice (joined on “New Future Blues” by the equally breathy, pretty-piped Gina Belliveau) often belies his despondent words. Perhaps the LP’s minor bugaboo is its lack of variation, but this style feels so embedded in Norsworthy’s blood that you’ll still find yourself falling prey to its subtly-revealing charms.
