In the Company of Strangers

Whenever they perform on A Prairie Home Companion, this husband-and-wife team is always the best element on the program — with their powerful, sinewy voices (both grew up on gospel music) and instrumental chops (she's a great clawhammer banjo player, he's a very fine guitarist) they take every song they perform firmly by the throat and squeeze every drop of emotion from it, and they always do so in a way that manages to direct your attention to the song itself, rather than to their performance of it. They have a vocal blend as perfect in its way as that of the Stanley Brothers; when Linda's singing lead and Robin's belting out a low harmony it will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. But somehow their albums are often a disappointment. It's tempting to blame it on the studio environment or some other metaphysical factor, but the painful fact may simply be that the songs they write aren't as good as the ones they often sing onstage, which are likely to be old gospel or other traditional material. Lyrically, this stuff is all great; there just aren't many memorable tunes. It's telling that on In the Company of Strangers the only really memorable original song is the title track (which is outstanding) and the best song of the program is a Hank Williams number. Their version of "Cold, Cold Heart" rivals Williams', frankly. If only they could write like he did.