Critics generally regard Gillian Welch’s third album, Soul Journey, as an artistic lull. I disagree. The dominant themes of her other early albums—Revival‘s wistfulness, Hell Among the Yearlings‘ gothic grimness, Time (the Revelator)‘s nostalgic cool—rely on more powerful human emotions than the lightness of Soul Journey. But lightness can also be deep. It’s the sensation of arm hairs standing on end as a cool summer breeze hits, and the jumble of memories and dreams that leak in afterward. And lightness can also be deceptive: “Look at Miss Ohio” and “One Little Song” are as cutting as any song Welch has ever written, sweet melodies notwithstanding. There are few duds buried in the album’s center (“One Monkey”is not a good work of art, catchy or not, religious allegory or not), but Soul Journey feels, twenty years later, like an indispensable part of Welch’s oeuvre. 9
Welch, Gillian. Soul Journey. Acony, 2003. Reviewed September 13, 2024. Notable tracks: “Look at Miss Ohio,” “Wayside/Back in Time,” “Lowlands.”