December's Child

1	How Can I Send Tonight (There to Tell You) 3:46
2	Still We Have a Friend in You 3:52
3	Alta's Song 3:49
4	Back to the Old Homeplace 2:29
5	December's Child 4:21
6	Nerstrand Woods 4:38
7	Cactus Wren 4:41
8	Climb These Steps (We Will) 3:24
9	How Can This Be 3:18
10	Say You'll Be Mine 4:01
11	One Eyed Black Dog Moses 5:59

Barnes & Noble

The terrain onetime Jayhawk Mark Olson covers on December's Child isn't new ground for him, but this trek is among his most compelling. His deep love for the music, the land, and the people populating his songs, coupled with his soulful singing and his group's spirited playing, give the disc a timeless sound that feels at once in-the-moment and ages old. This time out Olson reports on the friends, family, and lovers who have crossed his path. Fiddles, keyboards, wah-wah guitar (courtesy of Olson's wife, Victoria Williams, who joins in on some rough-hewn harmonies), trumpet, and various percussion instruments bolster a basic acoustic ensemble, with the results falling somewhere between folk and country, with an occasional nod at jazz. Seamlessly connecting the dots are Olson's elliptical lyric sketches and his bone-dry, Ray Davies-like voice, which lend the album a deeply rural and mystical sound that -- especially on the poignant "Back to the Old Homeplace" and the elegiac "Cactus Wren" -- recalls early Carter Family treatises. Co-written by Olson and his former Jayhawks bandmate Gary Louris (who also sings harmony vocals), the loping country blues love song "Say You'll Be Mine" is one of the disc's more straight-ahead songs. Olson, Williams, and the Creekdippers have a solid track record, but at its best, December's Child is a few cuts above their other collective efforts. It's a journey well worth repeating -- one that exposes more with each run-through. David McGee

All Music Guide

Life in the desert with wife Victoria Williams certainly has focused Mark Olson's eye for lyrical detail. Whether singing about around-the-clock meth labs or newspaper roses sold by the side of the road, he creates fully realized worlds within each song on December's Child. The lo-fi folk vibe of the earlier self-released Creekdippers recordings and 2000's My Own Jo Ellen remains, and Olson again shares credit for the album with the Creekdippers. But the electricity and amplification have been turned up a bit, too -- rather than deliberately eschewed as he seemed to prefer after first going relatively solo. If Williams is less of a vocal presence (except for trading verses on the raucous closer, "One Eyed Black Dog Moses"), she lets her funky wah-wah banjo fill any resulting gap. What may surprise many fans is that Olson is joined on one song by his former Jayhawks partner Gary Louris, though the co-written "Say You'll Be Mine" is considerably looser than their previous work together. That it's no less ramshackle than the rest of this worthwhile album is a testament to an endearing minimalist approach that allows Olson to refine his singing and songwriting talents rather than bother himself with fussy production concerns. ~ Brian Beatty, All Music Guide