Sam Green has spent 2013-2018 in a flurry of musical activity. He’s shared the results of those years on the Spotify platform in hopes of exposing his art to a wider audience; it isn’t difficult to hear why. Even Green’s saddest tracks are filled with a life-affirming impulse; the fact they are written or performed at all is a victory if nothing else. You can hear that from his 2013 release I Think It’s Time Now. The light rambunctiousness of the opener “Love Is Everywhere” has a vibrant instrumental sound and doesn’t confine itself to basic folk. Green often writes about the time-tested subject of love but gives listeners his own personalized touch.
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A later track, “Putting Out the Fire”, has a faint foreboding edge. Green, however, never overplays it. His ability to pluck common phrases from our shared lexicon and use them in poetic ways to make meaningful statements sets him apart. The vocal melody has the same downcast air though Green wisely never exaggerates it. The album ends with an unmistakable nod to his Australian roots with “The Ned Kelly Song”, his chronicle about the famous outlaw and subject for numerous motion pictures. Sam Green and the Time Machine generate a fleet-footed sweep through this track and the song’s extra musical voices leave a mark.
The sense of place “Dandeong Ranges” achieves is a peak moment during 2017’s Which Way Left?, but there are other highlights among its fourteen tracks. “Mist of the Desert” has a meditative demeanor from beginning to end and the nervy violin he works into the track gives it added flavor. The stillness within tracks such as this is impossible to ignore and lacks any sort of forced theatricality. Two of my personal favorites are included on another album from 2017, The Time Has Come Again, entitled “Drowning in a Sea of Life” and “Whiskey on Your Shoulders”. The striking imagery of the latter cut, and its regretful overtones affected me on the first hearing and the former percolates with a potent mix of musical voices.
There’s an irresistible punch behind the AOR-inspired “I Gave to You”. His continual capacity for musical reinvention will surprise first time listeners who too readily cast him as a folkie. He’s convincing in this role, as well, and never sounds self-conscious. This is a real sleeper in his discography that only the willingness to delve deep will discover but well worth your time. It’s little wonder, given songs like this, that The Time Has Come Again ranks among his most popular releases.
His latest album available through Spotify, 2018’s Ten Parts of the Journey, begins with the song “I Carry the Load”. The whispery echoes of pedal steel haunting the song’s outer edges are among the track’s finest qualities. The lyrics are among his best as well. Another track listeners’ will admire is “Day of Peace”; it isn’t easy to write and record socially-relevant material with any real universality, but Green understands how. His accumulated output represents several things, but one cannot escape his abiding faith in art’s redemptive power. It colors each song and album even when it isn’t outright stated.
Jodi Marxbury