Review of Wendell Kimbrough’s Album “Find Your Way Home”

Will Weir (Academy Class of 2008)

Find Your Way Home, the first release from this Southern poet exiled to DC, reveals Wendell Kimbrough to be a trustworthy and capable songwriter with an ability to be simultaneously personal and prophetic. Stylistically nestled somewhere between James Taylor and Cat Stephens (and occasionally The Temptations), Wendell Kimbrough’s melodic instrumentation and compelling composition form a fitting vehicle for his insightful lyricism.

In a musical climate often plagued by melodrama and sentimentality, Wendell adds to the acoustic singer-songwriter role just the right touch of playfulness to lighten up even the most poignant ideas. Take, for instance, the fourth track, “The Ballad of Freida the Goose.” When was the last time waterfowl brought you close to tears? Not recently? Well, Freida just might. Because between a high-strung acoustic and some tasteful piano, Wendell gets it right: Freida, all of us know how you feel /We’ve been hurt, dear, we’ve been hungry in search of a meal.  And the Academy—the backdrop for much of this album—is certainly an intense setting where we have all come to those realizations and seen wounds exposed and healed, God-willing.  One’s tenure of community life during Trinity Forum Academy can be a spiritual and emotional pressure cooker, and a lot of well-kept secrets can surface where you wouldn’t expect, not least the secrets you keep from yourself.  The Academy’s nine months and tight quarters are enough to wear down pretenses and exhaust resources of forced kindness, and Wendell, through Freida, describes this correctly. At the end of the day, when we’ve seen each other’s dirty laundry, we have to decide whether or not we’re going to follow Christ into that mess or gloss it over and accept only the prettiest portraits of each other. In this beautiful apostrophe to the lonely goose, Wendell explores the idolatry of the ideal over the experience of the real and concludes, with the lyrics of the album’s title, Freida, find your way home / It might not be perfect, but it’s better than being alone.

While much of Wendell’s folk eloquence follows Frieda’s pursuit of a sense of home, namely in the haunting “Come Back Home,” the music itself often tells a different story. Find Your Way Home certainly has its range of genres, but whether it’s folk or rock or Wendell’s very own acoustic Motown (surely he’s a pioneer here), he moves with distinct comfort and ability. In one highlight, “Sweet Virginia,” the beautiful interplay of acoustic, piano, accordion, and violin flows smoothly behind Wendell’s straightforward vocals. My route from the friendly South to frenetic DC has not been too different from my good friend Wendell’s, and this song perfectly captures the longing for old friends and the hunger for stillness that a city like this can produce. The music itself seems to deliver the very thing the song pines for: Give me a moment to begin to see my place / I need your landscapes for my rural mind / Give me a respite, give me some time.

In fact, Find Your Way Home as a whole is an album that can deliver some peace and calm into a noisy life. Because even when he rocks, Wendell’s thoughts are clear and his clarity is convicting. Find Your Way Home shines as the first effort from this promising artist, and his further projects promise to be, like this one, filled with thoughtful, endearing songs from a truly talented songwriter. Wendell Kimbrough is one musician well worth our attention.

Will Weir is a 2008 graduate of Trinity Forum Academy. Find Your Way Home is available for purchase online at http://www.wendellk.com or on iTunes.

0 Responses • Alumni, Features, Guest Speakers, Fri 17 Jul 2009