Joe Henry and Friends Collaborate on the Enigmatic but Satisfying ‘All the Eye Can See’

Photo: David McClister I enjoy the method the tunes on Joe Henry’s most current album refuse to quit their secrets, how the tunes roam like enigma, how the lyrics thread a thin line in between understanding and unknowing. How the tunes can begin with the most basic acoustic guitar arpeggio, had fun with all the heat of a 1930s Gibson, then pave the way to accordion, banjo cello, Celtic harp, clarinet, classical guitar, electrical guitar, electrical sitar, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, string area, tenor saxophone, upright bass, violin, Wurlitzer, or whatever not likely option ends up being the ideal counterweight to all this intimacy. Joe Henry All the Eye Can See (earMUSIC) “Trouble starts at waking,” Henry sings on the title track, “the weight of the world near-breaking/its wave on the heart’s undertaking/of all the eye can see.” It’s as strong as earth and as liquid as water, and if there’s a response concealing inside the tune, something about life, death, love, God, or all of the above, the closest Henry concerns exposing it is the weariness in his voice and the sweet unhappiness in his kid Levon’s sax solo, a 30-second summation of plangent, shapeshifting approval. Some tunes, like the confessional “O Beloved,” begin just enough prior to broadening to consist of time, house, the world, “bedclothes roiled by the tide,” “deals with in cabinets,” and “horses awake in their stalls.” Others, like “God Laughs,” deftly prevent discovering their footing, rolling in between waves and closing with a sailor’s prayer to “come clean/with all that we mean/and all that we require now to hold on to.” Henry’s guitars– a 1929 Martin 0-28, 1931 Gibson Nick Lucas Special, 1931 Gibson L-00, 1932 Gibson L-0, 1935 Gibson L-00, 2014 Martin HD-28VS, 2019 Collings 00042, and 2020 Collings 0002H Custom Traditional– have actually never ever sounded much better than they do here, adoringly tape-recorded in your home. They cover a broad variety of classic tones, and they’re magnificently matched by Madison Cunningham, Bill Frisell, Daniel Lanois, Marc Ribot, and John Smith, whose guitar parts come together for another pandemic wonder: Henry’s many complex, many nuanced, and eventually, most gratifying album yet..