Frontier Folk Nebraska - Pearls [2009]

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Every so often, an album succeeds less as a trademark for its generation and more as a testament to the timeless omnipresence of human love and sensibility. Cincinnati’s Frontier Folk Nebraska have created one such album with their upcoming release, Pearls.
Pearls has a traditional country feel with just the slightest modern flavoring. Its instrumentation never feels as stripped down as its words sometimes suggest, nor does it dabble in unnecessary experimentation. There is a digestible amount of classic rock riffs from aficionado Travis Talbert, whose guitar playing adds nearly as much personality to the songs as Michael Hensley’s insights do.

With lines like “I’m workin’ for the Lord on the Devil’s time,” the album’s religious undercurrents are undeniable but not a turn off. Instead, they seem to exist as one more unifying factor that whispers to you that the man who wrote these songs is as familiar with your struggles as he is with his own. Also, though his words are that of a mature poet, Hensley writes songs that make it seem like it’s okay to feel uncertain and broken. These are things people from all walks of life have always felt, and there is no shame in them.

The album’s most noteworthy tune, the one that you will find yourself putting on mixes with the fervent desire to spread its sincere, profound lyrical bounty, is most definitely “Help Me Through.” My vote for the album’s closer, if ever a reissue is in order, this song encapsulates everything I love about Pearls. In it, Hensley belts out “I hope tonight, somebody breaks your heart like mine,” recalling nights of desperation and loneliness as well as the bottom of a whiskey bottle or the lingering tan line on a now naked ring finger.

Frontier Folk Nebraska’s music is as at home in a hipster hangout as it would be around a cowboy’s campfire. Its dusty, folk feel is part of the album’s charm, but I, for one, am thankful for the modern technology that will allow me to have these songs whenever a cold, lonely night threatens to do me in.
Mylynda Nellermoe