The best pop music is made by people who themselves are timeless and mysterious. Most are public mysteries, like The Beatles, who are so famous and popular and who have been written about so much that their very reality, their humanity, becomes a vagueness amidst all the rumors and stories and mythologies. But occasionally an artist of a different character comes along, a private artist who, no matter how famous their music becomes, always remains shrouded in obscurity, enigmatic and elusive.
prattle on, rick. is just that sort of artist. There are of course hard facts that can be rattled off at parties (prattle on, rick. is the moniker for a revolving door of Nashville-based musicians with the only permanent member being singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Patrick Rickelton; Rickelton was also in Nashville-based bands Greenland and Noble Three) yet nothing one can learn on the internet or by speaking to Rickelton himself can demystify the experience of listening to his music.
prattle on, rick. is a set of contradictions: at once spiritual and secular, vague and close, a kiss goodnight and a long embrace over your morning coffee. The music wraps you in arms of airy texture, with vocals that are soothing and comforting, only to bite down when you least expect it, a reminder that there are no easy lessons in life. Yet, through it all there is Rickelton, his voice like a guiding mentor, or an encouraging father, reassuring us that, though life is hard and filled with disillusionment and heartache, there is peace to be found at the other end or during those quiet moments when you look up and see that the clouds have broken and the sun is kissing your cheeks through the fall leaves.
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