In terms of a broad genre, folk music is not easy to pull off anymore. That is to say that hearing a solitary artist who is engaging is difficult to come by these days. There are so many singer/songwriter types out there that are unmemorable, mainly because a good percentage of them blatantly and ineffectually rip off the likes of pioneers such as T. Rex, The Incredible String Band, and even Judy Collins to name a few examples. Marissa Nadler, however, is a rare exception. Her last album, Songs III: Bird on the Water, was a haunting work of originality and now we have been granted Little Hells, an unwavering, defining type of album that even tops her previous effort.

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The band does a wonderful job of walking the line between an old Texas-style saloon band and a a modern ass-kickin’ folk-singin’ renaissance man.

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