THE GEOMETRY OF GOLDEN IMPROBABILITY–Dennis Derryberry, Jackson Hole News Beth McIntosh approaches her music with no preconceived notions of the direction it may lead her, but she’s definitely not just winging it.
As her musical adventure continues, McIntosh’s attitude is serious, and she’s obviously in love with her work. The first five months of this year were trying times for McIntosh as she crisscrossed the country from Boston to Seattle to the Arizona desert and countless connecting venues. Often amid fond encouragement from unknown listeners, McIntosh felt convinced that she was, at least for that moment, going forward. But the ups and downs of a life on the road were many, and McIntosh found the extended absence from her home in Jackson Hole to be disorienting.
After a sunny Teton summer of recovery, however, she is bemused that even after such a lengthy exposure to the road she still found herself in the same cycle of anxiety and hope between each performance.
“It was a little much. I’m not going to be a road hound,” she said. “There comes a point where you don’t even have a life anymore. You come back and your friends’ lives have all changed. You can’t even keep your carpets clean.” This Thursday and Friday, all who attend her concert will hear strong and clear the voice and guitar of a woman who has much to say and plenty of talent and vision with which to relate her ideas.
McIntosh enjoys playing with other musicians and has appeared with Leo Kottke, David Bromberg and Emmy Lou Harris. But her true passion is for solo performing. Alone, McIntosh revels in the space to follow her interests in any direction.
“It’s like geometry. I like to be a point. The one-dimensionality of that is completely non-restrictive as far as directions you can pursue.” she said.
Performing with a partner, McIntosh said, sometimes imposes someone else’s choreography on what otherwise is a free musical dance.
And what she has on her own is more than enough. Her vocals--an inspiring hybrid of folk and jazz--ring out with delicate power and subtle strength. She writes music for her songs with a keen ear for the original and plays technical chords and melodies with grace on all four of her albums.
McIntosh’s lyrics and accompanying arrangements exhibit the thoughtful editing process she applies to her songs before entering the studio. The entire concept of editing songs is a curious issue with McIntosh, who feels that while an unedited song may tell too much, it is no doubt honest. Too much editing, she said, can make the song seem contrived.
“When my brain becomes too involved, I start writing stupid stuff,” she said.
Often in a song McIntosh reveals personal vignettes and the strange circumstances which often shape our lives long before we become aware of their existence. On “Truman’s Choice, McIntosh gets in tune with enigmatic, unpredictable life as in one line she sees “every moment golden with the improbability of being alive.”
In another song from her latest CD release Songline, McIntosh examines a particularly torturous question: “Am I worthy?” Her conclusion is right in line with her blossoming performance abilities: “Actions speak the loudest.”
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