Amy Helm This Too Shall Light

This Too Shall Light, Amy Helm's sophomore solo album, is a logical progression from 2015's excellent Didn't It Rain (recorded after three dynamite albums with Olabelle), but it's also a marked departure. For starters, she stepped away from her home base in Woodstock to work with producer Joe Henry in Los Angeles at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, where the Beach Boys records Pet Sounds and the Mamas and the Papas tracked the immortal "California Dreamin." Second, in order to "meet" these ten tunes directly, she refrained from rehearsing or playing them live beforehand. Henry played her Delaney & Bonnie's cult classic Motel Shot, recorded to resemble its many players hanging out and singing in a rundown roadside motel room. This date was cut in four days and the end result captures that spontaneous feel but takes it to another level sonically and emotionally. The material is uniformly strong; it makes use of many of Helm's gifts as a singer ranging between country, rock, fol