The Hollyfelds

Listening to the Hollyfelds’ Black Heart Blue makes me wish my grandpa was still alive. See, we were always close, but I never gave his music — Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and other classic country, a little bluegrass when he was feeling spry — a chance until he was gone. That was my mistake. If he was still around, I could make up for missing out on what he could have taught me by introducing him to something contemporary and beautiful and wonderful that would fit right in with his hallowed classics: gorgeous vocal harmonies, classic lyrics of heartbreak and loss, and all the languid guitar lines and rollicking backbeat needed to put it across. I guess I’ll just have to enjoy it twice as much, for both of us.