The Hello Recordings

Laura Cantrell walks the line between Americana porch songs and contemporary singer/songwriter musings, but in 1996 she leaned harder on the former. The Hello Recordings were tracked in an apartment through a vintage mixing console accompanied by acoustic guitar, mandolin, lap steel, autoharp, and cello. The result is a rootsy EP that plays with the timelessness of old Carter Family recordings but with crisper production. The bouncy “Cellar Door” opens like an old-timey string band jamming on a barn stage. At just less than two minutes, the tune recalls the classic authenticity of a public-domain traditional. “Roll Truck Roll” is a peppy, bluegrass-tinged number with prominent mandolin picking and playful vocal harmonies mixed tastefully behind Cantrell’s pristine performance. She sings a more impressive take on the slower “No Place for Me,” where wistful and melancholy melodies are bolstered by a moody cello and a weepy slide guitar under slow, waltzing rhythms. She ends with a live cover of “Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine” recorded at a backyard barbeque.