“Purple Room is not from this year. But it has not been heard, nor publicized, in Austin. For one thing, I lived in New Hampshire when it came out. Plus, I’ve been taking care of my kids and not on the music scene since I returned to Austin. The CDs have been in my closet!”
- Tricia Mitchell
Now that she’s the Queen of the Momo Happy Hour, it seems natural to take a moment with Tricia Mitchell’s pleasantly self-assured solo release, Purple Room. Though she is most commonly thought as an acoustic guitar plucker, Mitchell’s music on this disc is far more flexible than that cliched description allows. “For This,” the brawny, rock-inflected opener, Mitchell lays the groundwork with her melody while Colin Boyd (who is all over the place here) provides the bristling electric guitar work. It’s an excellent opener that begins the record on a fun face.
“Bobby Joe Plays Violin” features wide-mouthed violin (from Milo Deering), appropriately enough, and a more melancholy story-song vibe that is more what Austin fans would expect from Mitchell. Deering effectively duets with himself by trading his violin work with a sympathetic pedal steel solo. The song is not a somber lurker but a ambling folk pop. One should also notice Tricia’s storytelling abilities in this song’s lyrics. Bobby Joe is a tormented man who only finds solace in his instrument, even if his crowd is no more than “an audience of bottles who stand and beg for more.” That’s some great imagery right there.
Deering’s violin also plays a big part in “What if I Was Serious,” a sad, lovelorn acoustic ballad that gets in an does its thing in the length of a Guided by Voices song. “Twenty Years to Life” is also heartbreakingly up front in its depiction of domestic abuse and the further tragedies that can spring from it. Donna Lake’s harmony vocals make the gentle “I Wonder What You See” even more tender as the song details the nerve-wracked initial steps of a love affair. Many of Mitchell’s lyrics come back to a feeling of emotional paralysis – “I’m imprisoned in a fortress of iron bars and locks/I feel like Cinderella racing with the clock.”
The swaying, nostalgic “Lilly’s Verses” is probably the most effective ballad. Tricia bares her soul as she measures her life against that of her great grandmother, who was apparently locked up in a sanitarium in more conservative times. “Did your father and brothers treasure you , Lil, as you cooked and cleaned each day/Did they leave a shred of pride in your soul, did you scrub it all away?” Mitchell’s finger picking is immaculate.
But I think the main thing succeeding in this album are the gutsy rockers that Mitchell’s sweetly-tempered voice rides high on. “Never Say ‘I Do’,” co-written with Monte Warden, ends the album on a delightful rockabilly feel that Mitchell doesn’t dip her toes into elsewhere. I could see some swing dancing to this one. “Valerie” has grungy, driving guitars and a profoundly sad message wrapped up in pristine pop production. “Learn You Like a Book” starts small and stately, with drums and bass pushing the song forward before the chorus opens up into sunny guitar strums.
“Girlfriend of the Band” is a tongue-in-cheek profile that gains humor from its true-to-life inspiration. “I’ll run red lights to get you to your show/if money’s getting tight for you, I’ve got some you can borrow.” Life with a musician can be difficult, and I’ve heard few songs that detail it in such believable, empathetic terms. “Crybaby” may be the best track on Purple Room. It’s pissed-off rock & roll with Mitchell’s birdlike singing making faces at Boyd’s scratchy guitar and hooky harmonies. The song is also has the catchiest chorus of the 12 tracks and the guitar solo shreds.
Purple Room is an album that should’ve raised Tricia Mitchell’s profile when it was released a few years ago. Hopefully now that you’ve heard about it you’ll go out and the record can do its job.
Final Grade: ****1/2 (out of five)
