Diamonds and Gold

Album Review

Gavin Sutherland offers 12 songs and an interlude on this solo effort recorded at Protston, Aberdeenshire, in 1998 and 1999 for the Netherlands-based Corazong label. Missing are the members of Quiver and brother Ian Sutherland, and for most of the disc it's a solitary journey of voice, guitar, some piano, and subtle accompaniments. Listen to the Ian Hunter vocal stylings on "Hard Sometimes," the ambience eloquent and pervasive while the message is communicated. Sutherland does a masterful job of putting spirit and story through the speakers, adding bits of Tom Rush and Bob Dylan, of course, but in a studied manner and with great authority. He calls this "acoustic music to soothe the troubled soul" and Lorna Sutherland's back- and front-cover paintings do a nice job of reflecting that. But it's the 16-page booklet with the artist's reminiscences that adds to the audio experience like a good old-fashioned record LP's liner notes, a sure sign that the singer and label care about the listener. The New Orleans jazz influences on "Sky So Blue," featuring Terry Butters' piano, is a charming diversion to the pretty guitar that helps the stories along. The guest stars are sparse but they add much, John Coletta's mandolin on "After the Storm" a nice bed with the guitar under Gavin's pronounced voice, as are the horns of Norman Robertson on "Sky So Blue" and the neo-gospel mantra that is "Lily's Bible." Adrian Baillie plays harmonica on two of the tracks, bringing that Dylan thing to mind — and very effectively on the song "Over Abilene." Diamonds and Gold is not what fans of the 1970s music Sutherland was part of might expect, but after a few spins it becomes obvious that this is a logical — and welcome — path for the journeyman.