(Rounder Records, digital, vinyl)
In 1987, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris released Trio, the first of the songbirds’ two collaborative albums, after their mutual admiration beat out the demands of their respective obligations as country music superstars. Nearly three decades later, singer-songwriters Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan and Sara Watkins shared the stage for an impromptu performance at the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Evincing an undeniable chemistry, the roots music all-stars stole away from their solo careers à la Parton and company, and the folk supergroup I’m With Her was born.
In the years since the group’s 2017 debut EP, Little Lies, and 2018 full-length follow-up, See You Around, that profound chemistry seems to have only intensified. I’m With Her’s latest album, Wild and Clear and Blue, finds Jarosz, O’Donovan and Watkins broadening their artistic sensibilities to sublime heights.
Seconds into opener “Ancient Light,” an egg shaker’s soft rattle conjures a primitive campfire, the sound of kindling wood succumbing to the flame. Over the steady rhythm, a pristine acoustic lead line coils itself in tight circles like a snake in the grass.
“Better get out of the way / Gonna figure out what I wanna say / I’ve been a long time coming,” Jarosz sings, the opening lines moving up the register in increments, each more defiant than the last — a melodic gesture symbolizing the lightness gained from shedding old skin. Jarosz resets her dynamic to demure levels in the second verse before starting the ascent all over again. When O’Donovan and Watkins join in at the 30-second mark, the trio’s potent harmony is in full command — that is, until Watkins’ auspicious performance on fiddle claims the center stage in lieu of a lyric-forward chorus.
It’s immediately evident that the LP’s sound is more elaborate than that of its stripped-down predecessor. The album finds each member playing a variety of instruments, in addition to the contributions of producer Josh Kaufman — a member of another folk supergroup, Bonny Light Horseman, with Vermont’s Anaïs Mitchell and the Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson.
While holding true to folk tradition, I’m With Her inject fierce tenderness — harmonically, melodically and lyrically — into each of the album’s soul-searching tracks. Featuring incantatory songs with titles such as “Mother Eagle (Sing Me Alive)” and “Sisters of the Night Watch,” Wild and Clear and Blue is imbued with a primeval essence steeped in a feminine mythos and natural imagery.
“So much of this record is about connecting with your past and figuring out what you want for your future, finding yourself and finding the people you love,” Watkins said on the band’s website.
Watkins, Jarosz and O’Donovan collectively look inward, as if guided by an immutable, ancestral knowledge that can only be illumined by the wild wisps of firelight. The end result is a meditative, spectral opus oscillating through moments of darkness and light.
I’m With Her play this Sunday, July 20, at Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green at Shelburne Museum, opening for Iron & Wine. Wild and Clear and Blue is streaming on all major platforms.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2025.
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