Review: Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee
On Waxahatchee's profound album Tigers Blood, country music is about the enduring soul of those who choose to live through their struggle and imagine a better life on the other side. -Connor Ferguson
Key Tracks:
“Right Back to It” (lead single)
“The Wolves” (Connor’s selection)
“Burns Out at Midnight” (Hadley’s selection)
What the hell is country music anymore, anyway? What defines it as a genre, as a movement? Is it the aesthetic objects of its sound, the steel guitars and gently brushed drums of dusty road troubadours, or the stomp-clap braggadocio of tailgating sing-alongs? Is it the conservative right’s consistent pearl clutching and political posturing of patriotism through its radio format, or is it the outlaws’ reclamation of its outsider and proletariat narratives? Whether approaching country’s definition through its sound or its stories, each question only seems to lead to more questions. In a musical climate where monoculture threatens to swallow everything, country’s fight for actualization has reached a new level of zeitgeist thanks in part to its resurgence on the Billboard Hot 100, pop-country crossover successes, and a fraught election year. When I talk to friends about this question, see it argued about in comment sections across social media, and reflect on my own interests in the genre, there seems to be one common denominator in the discourse: country music is about normal people. Katie Crutchfield (better known by the moniker Waxahatchee), a musician raised in the south and now based out of Kansas City, Missouri, understands that common denominator with a gravity that pulls listeners into the sonic orbit of her work, channeled through a keen eye for observation and an offered snow cone from your favorite local ice cream stand.
Waxahatchee’s inclusion in a discussion about country music is a fairly new development for the artist, though the threads of that genre were apparent throughout her discography. From her 2012 debut American Weekend to 2017’s Out of the Storm, Waxahatchee’s work was more defined by alternative rock and indie folk sounds, but those genres themselves are valleys where country’s echo rings out through sturdy song structures and aforementioned every-person perspectives. This perspective is particularly important, as Waxahatchee’s work has felt close and intimate even at its noisiest, even at its most anthemic, even when the artist herself has disappeared behind the stories and sounds of her songs. When Waxahatchee pivoted toward a more straight forward country-meets-Americana sound on 2020’s career breakthrough Saint Cloud, the genre shift was less about trend-chasing and more about a different kind of breakthrough, as Crutchfield had recently made the difficult decision to lead a sober life; as her sense of self clarified, it followed suit that a direct, stripped back, and conversational genre could service her artistry. Unadorned and simple, but beautiful nonetheless, Saint Cloud’s songs were made for driving around small towns with the windows rolled down and a gas station soda in the cup holder; it evoked the likes of Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch and, at times, Sheryl Crow, rather than the streamlined and radio-ready work of Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert (although their catalogues, too, have at times challenged preconceived notions of what country music is), a touch of Laurel Canyon-era songwriter flair included for a little more warmth.
Tigers Blood, Waxahatchee’s new album, largely stays the course of this genre shift: in the four years since Saint Cloud’s release, Crutchfield’s approach to music hasn’t changed much from that album’s tone and style. At first blush it appears Tigers Blood explores similar themes and narratives as the previous album as well, documenting explorations of home, interpersonal relationships, dependencies on our worst vices and tendencies, and the always challenging task of self-betterment. There’s an inherent risk for an artist to create two sequential albums cut from the same cloth, yet two distinct features ensure that Tigers Blood stands not only as a great record in its own right, but as one that substantially eclipses the success of Saint Cloud: the inclusion of MJ Lenderman as a central collaborator, and Crutchfield’s ability to dig even deeper into the ideas at the core of her lyricism.
First, it can’t be overstated how essential MJ Lenderman is to the soul of the record. His electric guitar skills, while impressive in his own solo work and as a pillar of alternative country/shoegaze act Wednesday’s sound, finds its harmonized match in Katie Crutchfield’s vocal style and poetry; in some ways, Crutchfield is performing a duet with Lenderman throughout the entire album, his grooving riffs and weeping solos a mirror to her reedy, expressive voice, weaving together to capture the entire emotional register of an experience. Look no further than lead single “Right Back to It”, a song about self-doubt in the throes of a complicated relationship, Crutchfield grappling with the desire to sabotage her own wellbeing before she is called back to stability through Lenderman’s solo; or on late album highlight “The Wolves”, a heart-tugging chronicle about the artistic process and its costs, containing some of Crutchfield’s best writing (“If I throw myself / to the wolves, I did it all for the glory / not the fruit rotting in my shade / or who’s begging to get inside”) and Lenderman’s tender, warbling steel guitar. On louder, more upbeat tracks like “Bored” and “Crowbar”, Crutchfield and Lenderman sync their energies into something that sounds ready for a rambunctious outing at the lake just off of the old county road. In less showy affairs, like on album centerpiece “Lone Star Lake”, Lenderman knows when to pull back and play supporting role, leaving space for Crutchfield’s tender and astute observations about how the ones we love are the ones who can hurt us the most: “I’ll stand arm-in-arm with anyone who’s able / to let me / be the object of their misery.” Crutchfield sings, and Lenderman’s guitar sings back.
Second, where Saint Cloud’s narrative was defined by Crutchfield’s new sobriety and the freshness of that struggle and its related trials (like familial dynamics and discoveries of hidden interiority), Tigers Blood is more interested in the after, the “what next?”, the reality that when self-actualization is reached, the process starts all over again. Crutchfield’s press tour for Tigers Blood has seen the artist speak against the preconceived notion that artists, whether musicians or writers or painters, must suffer for their art; while thats a particularly profound statement, and one that champions contentedness and stability, that doesn’t mean Tigers Blood is without an antagonist or central conflict. More so than any of her other albums, Crutchfield takes herself to task, calling out her work ethic "(“Burns Out at Midnight”), confrontational nature (“Ice Cold”), and the dangers of nostalgia as an encroaching threat against that hard-won inner peace (“3 Sisters”). Crutchfield argues here that the hero’s journey is indeed a circular structure, but is also somewhat of a spiral, moving further and further inward infinitely, with the ability to see its outer boundaries while simultaneously unable to look into the unknown center.
If country music is about normal people, and Tigers Blood is about the numerous pitfalls Crutchfield has encountered throughout her personal and professional life, it could be argued Waxahatchee’s greatest accomplishments across the record is an empathetic sharing of emotional experience, earned knowledge, and a generous sense of humor which provides some honey to help the medicine go down. In one of the brilliant internal consistencies found within the album’s storytelling, the image of loose change appears in opener “3 Sisters” and closer “Tigers Blood”. In “3 Sisters”, which acts as somewhat of a farewell to an ill-fitting relationship, Crutchfield sings with pain in her voice: “Am I your moat or your drawbridge? / It plays on my mind, how the time passing / holds you like pocket change”; in “Tigers Blood”, over a choir led by Lenderman in vocals and guitar, Crutchfield sensitively looks back on that travelled road and arrives on the album’s best chorus: “I held it like a penny I found / it might bring me something, it might weigh me down.” The past can be a weapon, yes, but it can also be the tools by which we create a brighter future for ourselves and our communities. Through her work as Waxahatchee, and on the achievement of Tigers Blood, Katie Crutchfield reminds listeners of what country music has always been about: underneath the debris of mishandled patriotism, beyond pain dealt with through alcoholism and rusted truck beds, through the gentrified suburbs and abandoned small towns, country music is about the enduring soul of those who choose to live through their struggle and imagine a better life on the other side. It’s a penny worth keeping for a rainy day.
Hadley’s Take
Somehow it’s been over ten years since the now classic Waxahatchee album Cerulean Salt was released. While it made small waves upon its release, it came out in a busy year for folksy singer songwriters. This feels like a miscalculation. Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee has been working hard in the last decade with a consistency few artists can match. Several of her peers grew at a similar rate, but many others fell off along the way. Remarkably with her album in 2020, instead of stalling out, she drove home her best album yet.
On Saint Cloud, Crutchfield decided to take her strength of exacting lyricism and raw vulnerability and apply it to making an alternative country album. It’s a trick many artists try in the middle of their career, but it was successful for Crutchfield, because with her Midwest roots, she sounded so comfortable in the genre. In a lot of ways the album was about finding beauty in the familiarity. The title itself even pulls its namesake from her father’s hometown of Saint Cloud, Florida.
I was thrilled to hear the follow up release called Tigers Blood was going to be very much still in the same vein as Saint Cloud. The announcement came with lead single “Right Back To It,” which reinforces this message with the chorus line “But you just settle in / Like a song with no end.” The line comes in a song detailing Crutchfield having insecurity with a long-term partner, but ultimately finding strong footing in their relationship. But the metaphor of a locked groove of a vinyl record also speaks to the mission statement of the album. Tigers Blood acts as a sort of sequel album to Saint Cloud. While the previous album felt like a proof of concept, this time around Crutchfield has nothing to prove. So instead of finding a new template, she’s instead going deeper into the sounds and moods that made Saint Cloud one of the best albums of 2020.
This alternative country pivot seems to be her sweet spot and doubling down on it only improves the already great craft and songwriting from the first venture into a more rural aesthetic. She imbues each track with aching perfectionism which rhymes with the textual themes of burnout, sobriety, and a relationship on the rocks. One moment she scalds herself or her partner with a searing line of resentment only to let moments like this simmer instead of explode. Crutchfield paints stories that find her staying the course and trusting her process, despite heavy feelings of exhaustion or exasperation. With love, life, and mental health, sometimes the right path is also the hardest won. It’s a trope of the country music genre that shines through again and again in the writing and production on Tigers Blood.
One notable addition being brought to the table is Waxahatchee's collaboration with MJ Lenderman. In the last few years, Lenderman has been an artist to follow in alternative country circles. On his solo album Boat Songs, he pulls off similar small town narratives to Crutchfield, but with his own brand of acerbic observations. Think Silver Jews with Wilco guitar licks. Lenderman is also a guitarist in the band Wednesday, which had their own breakthrough album with last year’s Rat Saw God. It’s no wonder that Crutchfield saw a peer in Lenderman. His guitar work and occasional backing vocals for Tigers Blood continues his strong footing in the resurgence of the genre. I hope they work together in the future, since they seem to build from each other while sharing a studio space.
Since the majority of Tiger’s Blood consists of medium tempo ballads, there will be listeners who won’t want to give this album more than a cursory listen. To my ears, though, there is so much to dive into. Each re-listen has been more rewarding than the last, and I can’t think of a song I’d exclude from its track listing. The final product forms a rich tapestry of Midwest sentimentality. So much so that it makes me want to cry into a cherry red snow cone like the one featured in a photograph on the back cover for the album. There has been a lot of country music breaking into the mainstream charts in the last few years. I don’t know if that’s the lane Waxahatchee is in, but Crutchfield is taking things at her own pace and it’s her authenticity and dedication that ultimately makes Tiger’s Blood an essential release.
I'll have to give this one a try! 😉