Glaswegian artist, poet and playwright Linda Ann McConnell is a big fan of Elvis. Trust me. Having started with a book in his memory, Ms McConnell has taken it even further, scripting a play and releasing a heartfelt album detailing – among other Elvis-related odes - her own journeys to Tennessee. Much more than a merely convincing homage, McConnell has clearly answered what she has interpreted as a calling. The result? An incredibly pleasant listen.
Scenes from Jim Jarmusch’s 1989 film “Mystery Train” are - for some reason - fresh in this writer’s head as “Delta Sun” starts the album. That this song hasn’t been riding in the American country charts is quite a mystery. Similarly, “Pilgrimage to Memphis” continues in a breezy Americana vein that carries a slight but rather significant sadness.
Good manners (and good taste) should prevent you from breathing during the title track. Ms McConnell captures a moment in time as hi-spec cameras could only wish to do. Again, the tone is a melancholy one but that is perhaps to be expected in a song to the deceased. Moreover, Linda Ann addresses her subject in a way that suggests our hero may not be quite gone.
There’s a gospel-like quality to much of the album that surely would get the King’s seal of approval and even Elvis’s darker moments are remembered kindly in “The Last Serenade”. From behind a piano’s gentle chiming, Linda Ann sings with unwavering passion on “X x 1002” – and perhaps Elvis met the wrong woman in Priscilla? O, the curse of space and time!
McConnell’s gratitude to Elvis as a muse is evident on “The Gift” with the song even threatening to turn religious. On this song, Linda Ann confesses her struggle to write “the perfect song” for Elvis. Certainly, it’s hard not to be impressed with what must’ve been a very difficult album for Ms McConnell. To condense such intense feelings and thoughts for an icon cannot be easy.
On the last track, the “Big E” himself makes an appearance. No, I’m not lying. “The Memphis Lullaby Finale” features some inspirational words from Elvis, which seem to sum up why Ms McConnell undertook this devotion in the first place.
Any fans of Elvis would be wise to add this album to their collection but I think Ms McConnell’s conviction throughout is severe enough to convince atheists that the second coming of a saviour ended in 1977.