KATIE CALLAHAN
The Water Comes Back
The first thing to know about Katie Callahan is that she grew up in an evangelical Christian tradition. Then came the 2016 election, Trumpism, and a failed marriage that left her a single mother and tapped out as a songwriter. As she rebuilt her life–a new marriage, a second child, and recovered inspiration–she abandoned evangelicalism.
Too often, though, liberals read a paragraph like the one above with a degree of smug satisfaction and the assumption that it must have been a relief to cast off the oppressive bonds of evangelical religion. Even allowing for the fact that both those with and without faith suffer from misfortune, there is another factor that flies in the face of easy-transition narratives: The hole left behind when faith leaves.
Callahan’s journey under the microscope in The Water Comes Back is raw and honest. It’s gutsy to write a song like “I Miss God” and toss in a chorus like this: But I miss God and the surety/Of knowing I was right/Where is God when uncertainty/Turns out the light? Callahan is no longer an evangelical, but make no mistake; this is a deeply spiritual record on many levels. “Baptism,” for instance, is a lamentation to her first marriage. Odd? Not really; even great thinkers such as St. Augustine called doubt a foundation of faith.
Callahan is generally classified as a folk singer these days, but that label doesn’t quite fit. “In a Garden” really is about getting her hands in the dirt, but with its big choruses, stomp and clap percussion, and layered vocals, it is evocative of gospel music. It is also one of several songs in which she sings of resurrections of various sorts, including the possibility of finding God in the ashes, the pain, and in nature. That won’t fly with Biblical literalists, but she’s done with the one-road crowd, so why not add feminism to the list of things that light holy fires? On “Witches” she celebrates female power: We are the wild ones/We howl at the moon/We dance in the desert/We are the monsoon. Late in the song she takes a poke at rigid faith: If Eve ruined Adam/If she brought the fall/How challenged his conscience/How weak his resolve. I also like how this one begins with a subdued feel but builds, drops back down, and pings back and forth between solemn and energetic.
She takes a pop approach to “One Sided Sea,” splashes a tiny bit of country in “I Won’t Give Up,” links personal and universal brokenness in “Notre Dame,” and opts for an echoey prayer-like treatment to “Sri Lanka,” her low-key testament to a bombing of a church by militants in that strife-torn land. Callahan can play solo, but she likes robust arrangements, so the album has everything from organ, strings, and electric guitar backing acoustic guitar and mandolin. Mostly, though, you’ll thrill to a songbird voice that alternates between avians– a fragile sparrow in one breath, a soaring eagle the next.
A gorgeous voice–sometimes influenced by Joan Osborne–superb lyricism, and meaningful themes, who could ask for more? So, here’s my one-word review for this wonderful album: Hallelujah!
Rob Weir
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