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Kesha overcomes personal storm, finds gold with Rainbow

Album cover for Kesha's "Rainbow"
Album cover for Kesha's "Rainbow"

A- Kesha

Rainbow

Kemosabe/RCA

Back when she was Ke$ha, her interests mainly seemed to be partying and making money, which are fine, if hollow, musical ambitions. With Rainbow, Kesha has found numerous causes to embrace and, more importantly, her own artistic voice.

Her lawsuit against her former mentor and label boss Dr. Luke, accusing him of "sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally" abusing her, continues to wind its way through the court system, as does his countersuit. Dr. Luke denies any wrongdoing and has refused to release her from her recording contract.

However, he did allow Rainbow, Kesha's first album in five years, to be released without his involvement. And, well, it has to be seen as a victory for Kesha that it is quantum leaps better than anything she has ever done before.

While her breakthrough hit "Tik Tok," showed that she was clever, it did not even hint at the artistic depth that she mines throughout Rainbow.

The startling singles have already made their mark. The feminist anthem "Woman" struts like a mix of Amy Winehouse and Fifth Harmony. The dramatic piano ballad "Praying" uses her very specific version of events involving Dr. Luke to make universal statements about self-worth and recovery. "You said that I was done," she sings. "Well, you were wrong and now the best is yet to come."

She isn't kidding. Kesha delivers potent folk-influenced rock, country ("Hunt You Down") and even Beatlesque pop (the goofy "Godzilla").

She even teams with Dolly Parton for a rocking new version of "Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle to You)," a Parton hit that was co-written by Kesha's mother, Pebe Sebert.

With "Hymn," which sounds like "Tik Tok" filtered through Lorde, Kesha shows just how much she has grown with a "hymn for the hymnless," an anthem where she celebrates her imperfections as part of her strength.

Hot tracks: "Praying," "Woman," "Old Flames"

-- GLENN GAMBOA

Newsday

B+ Iron & Wine

Beast Epic

Sub Pop

Sam Beard has spent the past two Iron & Wine albums sharing time with other singers. Last year's Love Letter for Fire was a collaboration with Jesca Hoop and 2015's Sing Into My Mouth was an album of covers with Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses.

The new Beast Epic, however, is all Iron & Wine, who will perform Saturday at the Fayetteville Roots Festival.

After the jazzy, lite rock of 2013's Ghost on Ghost, Beard leans more toward feathery, acoustic folk here.

His whispery vocals and clear, subdued acoustic guitar are augmented by a perfectly restrained band. They take the up-tempo "Call It Dreaming," which would have been a hit for Cat Stevens in the '70s, and make it sound as mellow as a Sunday afternoon. There is a playfulness to the spare, jerky instrumentation of "Last Night" which is practically begging to be used to soundtrack a scene in a children's film and "Thomas County Law" is an evocative portrait of a rural life -- "there's nowhere safe to bury all the time I've killed," Beard sings on the latter.

Beast Epic is the best of Iron & Wine's folk minimalism mixed with a full band sound and arrangements.

Hot tracks: "Thomas County Law," "Call It Dreaming," "The Truest Stars We Know"

-- SEAN CLANCY

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

B Alex Williams

Better Than Myself

Big Machine

The revival of outlaw country, thanks to Chris Stapleton, has opened the doors for artists such as Alex Williams, a boozy-voiced vocalist whose debut reveals a singer-songwriter with real potential. Clearly influenced by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Williams also echoes, at least in spirit, Jamey Johnson.

Williams revels a bit too much in the bad boy stuff -- "More Than Survival" has him finding excuses for another weeknight booze buzz, while he tokes too much weed on "Little Too Stoned."

But "Old Tattoo," in which he talks to a deceased grandfather, reveals a sensitive, smart songwriter who can spin a good story in song. "Freak Flag" is a live-and-let live tale -- "people are weird and so am I."

Guests include ace guitarist Dan Dugmore and Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson) on harmonica.

Hot tracks: "Old Tattoo," "Freak Flag," "More Than Survival"

-- ELLIS WIDNER

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

B David Rawlings

Poor David's Almanack

Acony

David Rawlings has long been one of Americana's most valuable sidemen, working with Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams and, of course, Gillian Welch, with whom he has collaborated on eight albums.

On his new album, Welch is also on hand, singing plenty of harmonies and an occasional lead vocal, but this is clearly a Rawlings affair.

His solo work is more lighthearted and experimental. Only Rawlings would use a deadpan voice to tell the hilarious tale of the devil taking away a man's wife only to return her because she gave him such a hard time that she scared all the devils in hell, as he does in "Yup." His winding logic in "Money Is the Meat in the Coconut" is made all the more distinctive by using percussion that sounds like he's slapping coconut halves on a table. And he somehow makes his twist on the traditional folk song "Cumberland Gap" sound like it came from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

All that inventiveness makes Poor David's Almanack a collection of folkie fun that will help music fans remember Rawlings' name.

Hot tracks: "Yup," "Money Is the Meat in the Coconut," "Cumberland Gap"

photo

Album cover for Iron & Wine's "Beast Epic"

-- GLENN GAMBOA

Newsday

Style on 08/22/2017

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