Song Premiere: “Patricia,” by Reed Turchi

Reed Turchi’s latest album, Just A Little More Faith, came out in April and it’s a real pleasure to premiere “Patricia” here on Red Line Roots.

Turchi wrote the song, “about my grandmother, Patricia. When we toured through Baltimore in rainy fall 2016 we visited her in the hospital, a few days before she died and she asked me to write a song to remember her by.” Man, what a gift of a song.

With each listen, you hear some other small aspect that you missed before. Patricia starts with a lopey slide guitar, patient and brooding. It’s so understated that it makes you sit up and listen. And then those lyrics–so timeless and immediate at the same time–get me every time. “Take a rose from my casket, lay me down in my grave / When you’re out there on the highway, / Won’t you carry on my name?” Turchi’s delivery is so pure and gut-level and on the second verse, a low, haunting chorus joins him, expressing the both individual and communal experience of one generation giving way to another. “I believe there’s something out there / I believe I’m going home. / When I reach to dial your number, / Is when I feel the most alone.” This juxtaposition of belief in the next world and absence in this one is in keeping with the heart of blues music–the mix of joy and sorrow, of faith and doubt, of mystery and simplicity. Turchi takes up that mantle and shoulders it incredibly well, singing with restraint and confidence.

Reed will tour his new album Just A Little More Faith across the East Coast this fall, and we can’t wait to have him in our neck of the woods. In the meantime, give a listen and get this gem of an album.

Photo Credit: Alysse Gafkjen