Gillian Welch - Boots No 2: The Lost Songs, Vol 3

The Guardian 80

(Acony)
This final instalment of unpublished gems from Welch and David Rawlings doesn’t disappoint

By now, most Gillian Welch fans will be aware of the generous dumps of unreleased material that have been under way since August. Having recorded dozens of songs one weekend in 2002 to fulfil a publishing contract, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Welch and her partner, David Rawlings, sat on the tapes for years.

In March of this year, when a hurricane tore a hole in the roof of their studio and the pair scrambled to rescue their life’s work, they realised they felt strongly about the songs after all. After Volumes 1 and 2, here are 17 more fine originals and covers rooted in country-folk and old-time religion, rendered acoustically as a duo (that’s Rawlings on the album’s cover).