Lori McKenna: People Get Old

Playing a random playlist on Spotify, I heard Lori McKenna’s voice out of nowhere. I’m not much of a fan of Country, but hearing her was like hearing the voice of an old friend.

A really long time ago, back when I had a Flash-based “audioplayer” on the blog… I posted up MP3s of songs I discovered, and was listening to. Circa 2006 (and this may have been before YouTube existed)… I remember coming across McKenna’s music, and really liking “The Kitchen Tapes”.

Today, I listened to her song People Get Old, from the album The Tree. And really just fell for her voice all over again.

It’s difficult to explain, but McKenna’s voice elicits in me a kind of sadness. Melancholy might be a better word. Her stories and singing evoke in me a kind of shared loneliness. Not necessarily in a bad way, but not necessarily in a good way, either.

The songs I seem to like from her bring about this feeling in me. It’s a lovely type of sadness, and the sentiment underneath makes me feel like I want to sit at a table in the wee hours, sipping on liquor and quietly crying to her music.

It’s been a very long while since I’ve heard her voice. And even longer since I’ve listened to her songs. I’m very out of touch with her career, and see she’s had an incredible body of work. I have a lot of her songs to catch up on, it seems.

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