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Prairie In The Sky by Mary McCaslin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Prairie In The Sky
  • Artist name: Mary McCaslin
  • Year: 1975
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Philo Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my parents may have bought this together
  • Buy it on Amazon: $11.45

Prairie In The Sky by Mary McCaslin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I listened to Old Friends by Mary McCaslin a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was great, but that’s the only time I’ve ever heard of her.

What I expected

Country and folk.

What it was actually like

The album self-described as “western,” and that was quite right: it was country, but less country and more western. As before, I thought McCaslin’s voice was good and the songs were also very consistently good, with maybe one exception.

Ballad Of Weaverville was more folk than country, with more of a falk style guitar, and It’s My Time was more folk rock.

Prairie In The Sky had sort of a plodding, thumping rhythm and was probably the song I liked the least – but wasn’t really bad.

Ghost Riders In The Sky was the only cover that I recognized. I’ve probably heard ten different versions of this song, and with some changes to the lyrics, they’re all basically the same song, and this was no exception. It was strong, but lacked some of the eerie sound of some other versions that make them corny but entertaining.

Grade

5/5: love it

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Old Friends
  • Artist name: Mary McCaslin
  • Year: 1977
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Philo Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my mother
  • Buy it on Amazon: $10.00

Old Friends by Mary McCaslin

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of Mary McCaslin or this record.

I’ve also never heard of Philo Records, and think it’s fascinating that someone named a record label after the first century CE Hellenistic-Jewish philosopher.

What I expected

What I know about this is that it’s from 1977, that it was owned by my mother, and that the songs on it appear to be covers of other artists’ work, so I’m guessing it will be folk interpretations of famous songs.

What it was actually like

My prediction was right, though there was one original song, the title track Old Friends, which was fine, but nothing special.

Things We Said Today was fantastic, with an excellent tempo (that most singers would have opted to slow down). I loved the simplicity and the harmonies, and thought she did a great job, and thought the same about Wendigo.

Oklahoma Hills was upbeat, and I liked the subtle steel guitar.

Both Way Out There and My World Is Empty Without You Babe were slightly Oompa-Loompa, but still excellent. The former in particular was country enough to make up for it and had nice high notes, and I was again impressed that it wasn’t slowed down.

Pinball Wizard was kind of hilarious because I’ve never heard it outside the context of Tommy, and I love that she did it with banjo and drums. Blackbird was also great because of the banjo.

I didn’t like Wayward Wind and Don’t Fence Me In as much as some others, but still thought the steel guitar and drums were good on the former and the fiddle was good on the latter.

It seems like Mary McCaslin died a month ago, but I’m happy to have found her music!

Grade

5/5: love it