One wishes one could clone Emily Pinkerton.  

Those genetic replicas, each with an instrument—banjo, fiddle, guitar—and each with a voice—splintered from Emily’s own worn-over, sorrow-laden tones—would form an old-timey stringband for the ages with the added capacity to perform original songs of harrowing beauty.   

Thankfully, Emily has the technological miracle of studio magic at her disposal, by which she multiplies her exquisite voice in harmony and her dexterous fingers in picking and strumming (with complex rhythmical acumen) a variety of instruments vital to both Appalachian and Andean folk traditions.

Valparaiso is not just studio magic, though.

Valparaiso is magic.

The album is an enchanting tapestry, woven from disparate musical and linguistic threads from both North and South America.  When Emily sings He Venido Caminando, accompanied by nothing but a brilliantly-arranged and -played clawhammer banjo, the astute listener knows that she or he is hearing something special.  Valparaiso is full and overflowing with such delightfully cosmic moments.

To punctuate her musical marvels, Emily continues to grow and excel as a songwriter.  Ten Years most clearly demonstrates her songwriting prowess: “Do we mourn or wonder as our backs start to bow? / A decade does not make this easy to hold / A story is waiting, there’s an end to be told.”  

And Now is perhaps one of the best love songs of all time, expressing a bittersweet truth about love and life with such brevity and clarity that I dare not paraphrase it:

“Don’t think what’s to come / What might or might not befall us / Know I’m so in love with you now.”

Near the end, Now has a passage that is more melodically and harmonically reminiscent of the Beatles than of anything from Valparaiso, Indiana or Valparaiso, Chile, which proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that Emily is not bound by tradition.

She absorbs, masters, exudes, creates tradition.

She is tradition.

Valparaiso is an important work with big ideas from a significant American singer-songwriter.  Emily Pinkerton aims high and hits her mark every time.  Bravo.
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Poetic, efficient songwriting and arranging, drawing deeply from an Americana that spans both continents of the New World, delivered with a clear, inviting voice and clean, seemingly effortless instrumental work.  Groundbreaking work; destined to be a classic.
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Emily's voice on this album reminds me of pure light shooting from some musical heaven.  The songs are everything you need in your life -- soothing, invigorating, emotive -- thank you, Emily.
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