Daytona Beach News Journal February 8, 2008

By Rick deYampert, www.newsjournalonline.com

“No Small Thing”
(BirdsTale Records, 2008)

 

"For 16 years, the Jacksonville folk duo Tammerlin has embraced “songs our grandfathers knew" – those decades-old, even centuries-old traditional tunes such as bluegrass murder ballads, medieval French songs, or British and Celtic tales of tragic love.  These days Tammerlin are writing songs like those their grandfathers knew—with a bit of rock 'n' roll, pop-folk and even East-West fusion tossed into the mix.  The result on their new CD, "No Small Thing," is a gorgeous, poetic tapestry of wistful reflections on the fragility of the love thing, the passing of the seasons and the delicate strength of friendships.

The soul of "No Small Thing" is nine original songs by singer-guitarist Lee Hunter, who, with her guitarist husband, Arvid Smith, is Tammerlin.  Akin to Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran – he of "The Prophet" fame – Hunter possesses the wisdom, and the heart, to know that joy and sorrow often walk hand in hand in this life.  That’s reflected in such songs as "Autumn Refrain," "Meet Me in New Orleans," "This Love, This Time," the title track and a song about a trans-Atlantic friendship via letters, "Charing Cross Road Friend."  "I can’t get you off my mind, and I don’t know who you are," Hunter coos like a lost dove on "Autumn Refrain."  "Is that you in the cicadas' song or in Orion’s stars?  Anger’s an addiction, trust a mystery.  Only the hopeless are truly free.”

With Smith and a number of guest musicians playing 12-string guitars, mandolin, dobro, fiddles and more, the soundscapes meander from lyrical pop-folk that would be at home on a Gordon Lightfoot album, to the more earthy vibes of Lucinda Williams, to stuff that would get an Appalachian hoedown hopping."

Rick deYampert