Visitors to Folk and Tumble will know just how much we love The Orphan Brigade and each of its core members – Ben Glover, Joshua Britt, and Neilsen Hubbard – each established and accomplished artists in their own right. It doesn’t seem that long since Neilsen Hubbard’s previous release, the beautiful 'Cumberland Island', but he’s back with yet another powerful album.
This time, on ‘Digging Up The Scars’, he’s perhaps a bit more reflective. There are so many beautiful tracks, and while the title track is worthy of special note, I found I kept going back over and over to listen to ‘Nobody Was Home’. It really got me in the gut. ‘The End Of The Road’ is also particularly worthy of note, as is the opening track ‘Our DNA’.
Hubbard is well known and respected as one of Nashville’s most renowned producers (‘Rifles and Rosary Beads’ for Mary Gauthier for example) and film-makers, but with ‘Digging Up The Scars’, he’s reached a new high watermark. Described as “epic and intimate, symphonic and simple, the record is a pleading question to a love and the universe at the same time”. That description hits the mark – I was reminded of Wordsworth’s lyrical ballads in its profundity, simplicity and honesty.
Acoustic guitar and lap steel feature, with orchestral sweeps and swirls. Juan Solorzano is the man behind the lap steel, adding a ghostly, haunting atmosphere, and at times, a spiritual experience, perhaps.
‘Our DNA’ is a song to his little son, ‘Digging Up The Scars’ is a passing down of all that Hubbard believes. This is a reflective album, authentic and skillfully composed, and Hubbard’s voice has just the right amount of gravel. a comparison to Tom Waits would not be too far out.