![\"rsz_paul_doffing_songs_from_the_quaking_heart\"](\"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rsz_paul_doffing_songs_from_the_quaking_heart.jpg\")
Paul Doffing may be given the generic title of folk singer, but as his performance at this February\u2019s Folk Alliance demonstrated, his songs resist all of the revivalist trappings that now seem to accompany such a moniker.<\/p>\nPaul Doffing may be given the generic title of folk singer, but as his performance at this February\u2019s Folk Alliance demonstrated, his songs resist all of the revivalist trappings that now seem to accompany such a moniker.<\/p>\n
His newest release, Songs From the (Quaking) Heart, taps from a broader range of influences, both traditional and contemporary. His guitar suggests the subtle beauty of John Fahey, early Bob Dylan, and Nick Drake, showcased most evidently on the instrumentals, \u201cThe Drifter\u201d and \u201cNo Path up Cold Mountain,\u201d which sound like they could easily serve as soundtrack music. Besides the gentle guitar, these songs demonstrate more clarity of purpose, more savvy, and more focus than his previous releases, which were often compelling but occasionally listless and straying.<\/p>\n
Doffing has always been a very direct songwriter. There are no fussy arrangements, unnecessary instrumentation, or cluttered sounds on his newest release. No melodramatic foot stomps or singalong choruses. This is folk music is the most classical sense, the type that will appeal to admirers of Jackson C. Frank and Tom Rush as much as fans of Damien Jurado and the late Jason Molina. While some of the environmental themes and antiwar sentiment is a bit too blunt, Doffing\u2019s lyrics are at their best when he mixes these themes with compelling narrative arcs and subtle turns-of-phrase, illustrated most impressively on \u201cThe Legend of Mick Dodge.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty of heartbreak here too, but Doffing\u2019s vulnerabilities contain so much goodwill and clich\u00e9-resistant optimism that the album never gets mopey or pitying. \u201cNew Day Dawning\u201d is the album\u2019s masterpiece, a quietly defiant song with a guitar melody that will crawl under your skin. His voice is fragile but steady, sometimes almost quivering but always resolute enough to let you know he believes his convictions.<\/p>\n
This is, quite simply, a beautiful, often gorgeous album from a folk singer that deserves a much wider audience.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: Damien Jurado, Nick Drake, early Dylan, Jason Molina
\nRecommended Tracks: 6, 7, 5, 9, 4, 11
\nDo Not Play: none
\nWritten by Vince Meserko on 06\/13\/2015 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Quite simply a beautiful, often gorgeous folk album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":34277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3230,181],"tags":[3125,3126],"class_list":["post-34276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation","tag-paul-doffing","tag-songs-from-the-quaking-heart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/rsz_paul_doffing_songs_from_the_quaking_heart.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}