Revival

You gotta be prepared to deliver when your debut record is called Revival. But Gillian Welch and constant companion David Rawlings arrived fully formed upon its release; deceptively simple country and folk songs that felt lived in until you remember that these are all originals. “Orphan Girl” rumbles with distorted droning underneath, and “Barroom Girls” is a wistful Tom Waits-ish tableau of women waking up with smoke caught in their hair and greeting the day more exhausted than when they went down. These are lonely songs performed close to the mic, new standards being threaded together and the old time becoming eternal. You can’t revive the ghostly, but Welch/Rawlings sure as hell serenade ‘em.