Gillian Welch has unfortunately hardly been productive in the past twenty years, but before this she made a pile of beautiful albums, of which the “Time (The Revelator)” released in 2001 is in many ways her best album. When Gillian Welch left the Berklee School Of Music in the mid-90s in Boston, Massachusetts in the early ’90s, where she shared a love of ancient folk and bluegrass with fellow student David Rawlings. , no one was waiting for her music, Welch mainly influenced by old folk and bluegrass.
After college, the pair moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where they caught the attention of none other than producer T-Bone Burnett, who helped Gillian Welch get a record deal. T-Bone Burnett produced her 1996 debut album “Revival” and was also featured on Hell Among The Yearlings, released two years later.
Both albums came at a time when the love of old folk and bluegrass was reserved for a relatively small group of music lovers. However, that changed with the success of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the soundtrack to this film, on which Gillian Welch could also be heard.
At that time the music she was playing began to rise around the turn of the century, so Gillian Welch was suddenly prominently in the spotlight. All her talents come together on the 2001 release “Time (The Revelator)”. It is a very soberly coloured album with mainly influences from Appalachian folk and bluegrass, but it is also an album full of beautiful songs, in which the characteristic voice of Gillian Welch plays the leading role. On that album on which the unique Gillian Welch sound comes into its own. It’s a pretty sobre album, because there’s not much more than two acoustic guitars, a banjo, the voice of Gillian Welch and the occasional backing vocals from David Rawlings on the album, which was produced by Rawlings and T-Bone Burnett.
Originally released July 31st, 2001
The Fat Angel Sings 