Black River by American mandolinist and singer-songwriter Sierra Hull
Overview
Black River is a track by acclaimed American mandolinist and singer-songwriter Sierra Hull. It is the closing track on her third solo album Weighted Mind.
The album was produced by Bela Fleck and released by Rounder Records; the official album release was January 29, 2016, while the Black River single saw a digital release on November 20, 2015. The track duration is 3:51 to 3:52 depending on the edition.
Album Context and Writing
Weighted Mind is considered Hull's artistic turning point; she wrote eleven of the twelve songs herself and arranged the twelfth.
According to Concord Records, Hull wrote Stranded, Wings of the Dawn, Birthday, Lullaby, I'll Be Fine, and Black River entirely on her own, without co-writers; other songs on the album were co-written with Jon Weisberger, Zac Bevill, and Josh Shilling.
The album features Ethan Jodziewicz on bass and harmony vocals from Alison Krauss, Rhiannon Giddens, and Abigail Washburn on Black River and other tracks.
Musical Style and Lyrics
Style: Unlike her earlier bluegrass prodigy work, Weighted Mind is built around voice and mandolin / octave mandolin with minimal accompaniment; Black River is described as an acoustic country song built on a hypnotic repeated melodic and rhythmic ostinato pattern.
Key Lyric: "A black river runs down my face / I guess now is not the time or place / A thousand years is but a day they say / And maybe in a thousand more I will find my way."
Theme: The song brings the album full circle, restating an opening phrase from Compass as an affirmation; it is about embracing lostness, vulnerability, and searching during her early twenties, rather than trying to be someone else.
Quick Facts
- Artist: Sierra Hull
- Song: Black River
- Album: Weighted Mind
- Writer: Sierra Hull (solo writer)
- Producer: Bela Fleck
- Label: Rounder Records, a division of Concord Music Group, Inc.
- Release Date: November 20, 2015 (digital single); January 29, 2016 (album)
- Genre: Progressive Acoustic; Contemporary Bluegrass; Singer-Songwriter
- Length: 3:51
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