Writer John T. Edge has spent much of his career telling stories about a changing American South filtered through the lens of food and culture. He's published cookbooks and food histories, and he's been a contributor to the New York Times, the now-shuttered magazine, Gourmet, the Food Network, and NPR's Weekend All Things Considered. He also hosts the TV program True South.
Hannah Frances's exhilarating sixth album is an unruly ecosystem: nature sprawls, resurfaced family trauma unearths unrevealed roots, an unexpected rupture creates fertile ground for new understandings to blossom. The deep steadiness of the Vermont songwriter's previous album, last year's Keeper of the Shepherd, is replaced by ramshackle clusters of kindling-snap drums, nervy woodwind, jabbing brass, all swarming together like a cloud of bees. Her awkwardly beautiful chord changes evoke ornate wood carvings; her tempos are always wayward.
I have a very strict mother. As a child, I was never allowed to sleep over at friends' houses or travel on the bus to and from school alone. I was always accompanied and had it drilled into me that there is safety in numbers because girls are not safe; women are not safe, alone. Never leave the pack, never wander off.
When 'Black Rabbit' begins, Jake and Vince haven't seen each other in years. (There are a lot of time-jump flashbacks so we can see where and how things went wrong.) The bros used to be in a somewhat popular band together (watching Law do Kurt Cobain-esque grunge is a particular treat), but after that ended they poured their hearts and money into a restaurant/VIP lounge called Black Rabbit based in Brooklyn, right by the iconic bridge.
My heart just, like, dropped, and I felt sick. I entered right after the police did. I think it was very chaotic. Looks like you guys are on a team. Cool. The doors opened, and kids started coming out. A lot of the first ones were injured. A lot of them were cut with glass. I was looking for my girls. That was just my priority. I just wanted to find them and get them safe.
I was in Carton House when I got the call that dad had been knocked off his bike and taken by ambulance to hospital in Limerick where his condition was critical. It was Tuesday February 7, 2023. The previous Saturday I'd started the first game of that season's Six Nations and was due to start the following Saturday against France. In my world, everything was going well.
"The state failed me again. So not only has he been withheld from me for the last 32 years, they're still withholding him from me now."