Superlative to the power of 3, a classic is made with I’m With Her album number 2.

Release Date : 9th May 2025

Label : Rounder Records

Format : CD / vinyl / digital

Shiver the spine

There is something about close female harmony singing that can shiver the spine of the most cynical critic, where the sheer elementalism of the sound transcends any other effort to categorise or pigeon hole. The three singers who make up I’m With Her are one such example, and, given their respective track records, as solo artists, all successful in their own rights, it is when they conjoin their voices that the sum becomes so much more than any mere memory of the consisting parts. The name, yes, it could have done with some work, but I applaud the lack of vanity around it, the usual approach being to just bring their names together and leave it that, and whilst Jarosz, O’Donovan & Watkins might have done it, I am glad Sarah, Aiofe and Sara eschewed that.

This is their second release, following on from See You Around, back in 2018. Even with the Great Sick of 2020 (and beyond), such is their individual workload, it is almost surprising this follow-up has come so promptly. But come it has, with the additional merit of the trio having had the foresight to avail themselves of current in demand maestro, Josh Kaufman, whose golden touch and platinum ears have transformed so many players across the pond, where “folk & country” might be the tag of most convenience. (Here they are largely completely separate life-forms but you know how it works.) Recent examples include his own band (or one of them), Bonny Light Horseman, any variation of Craig Finn and/or The Hold Steady, Bob Weir and the recent Carpenter/Fowlis/Polwart masterpiece.

Elemental Reality

“Been a long time coming“, sings Jarosz on the opener, Ancient Light, and already the feel is looser than the slightly portentous and pristine tone of the debut. Built around a flicker of strings; cello and fiddle, it offers an elemental reality at odds with the world around us at the moment. As the harmonies kick in it is exemplary, with an elegant backbeat arriving also from J.T. Bates drums. The sound is at one simple yet ornate, all manner of instrumentation seeping into the mix, including piano and electric guitar.

Suitably welcomed in, the title track is cosy and comfortable throwback, with a classic melody that evokes comparisons with some of their forbears . It is now O’Donovan’s turn to take the lead vocal, and there is a whiff of Nanci Griffith about her delivery. Actually the song indirectly relates to Griffith and to John Prine, all three singers growing up listening to their recordings. Check out all the song titles liberally inserted into the lyrics! Sisters Of The Night Watch, which follows, with a slow simmer of a start, and might just be self-directed as a description of themselves. The trio sing in spectral harmony, ahead of the song becoming a homely chugging acoustic strum. As it progresses, so the vocals become less constrained, with the lead vocal stretching into a near howl, over the beatific croon of the others.

True Heirs

Different Rocks, Different Hills is a drifting banjo and fiddle saunter, voiced initially by Jarosz again, ahead two and then three part harmonising. In moments like this they show themselves true heirs to Dolly, Emmylou and Linda. With this one showing a sense of wistful regret, the songwriting here is already showing itself to be top notch, with all compositions co-written, mostly during the making of the album. And, if that gentle sadness isn’t enough, Standing On The Fault Line then throws you over the edge, a stunningly simple and effective guitar line guaranteeing tears before the sun rises any much further. Watkins’ voice oozes tragedy, maximised as the voices converge. Bereft of anything much voices and acoustic guitars, Watkins’ lonely fiddle swoops in to add salt to the wound and grit to the eyes.

Mother Eagle (Sing Me Alive) provides soft soaring voices, with mandolin taking a lead for fiddle to follow, and you are realising this is, too, a very strong album instrumentally. Sure, Kaufman is responsible for a lot, but so are the three women as well, between them providing much of the guitars, mandolins, banjo, cello, piano and hammond. Kaufman, mind you, throws in all of those as well, along with bass, lap steel, vibraphone and a stack more keyboards. Only Daughter is a further song in the folkabilly style of Nanci Griffith, packing also the mournful delivery of a younger Mary Chapin Carpenter. Find My Way To You Being is as pure an expression of bluegrass, Jarosz’s mandolin a tinkling hurricane. “I’ve got a nose like a dog in the woods” must also be one of the more peculiar lines ever sung.

Doozy Delivered

Just as you are getting comfortable with their range, suddenly in they throw the curveball of Strawberry Moonrise, barely a minute of ethereal wordlessness, arising out a drawn out daybreak of sound. Before you can quite take it all in, suddenly it has become Year After Year, a song of perseverance and persistence. A sombre song, the sort Dolly does so well, the three women somehow transcend the contrast of their ages against that of the perceived narrator, and deliver a doozy. The chorus, when it arrives, switches the song to full California sunshine, courtesy about 1970, the tune carrying echoes of a Mamas and Papas vintage tie-dye psychedelia. I like.

Finally, as if to show they have so much more in their barrel, Rhododendron closes the set with five plus minutes of exquisite perfection, the vocals as pure as a how I imagine a Montana mountain stream must be. Dialled back into their comfort zone of slightly sad, reflective and respectful, it wraps up this whole as a document of no small standing. If the first record demonstrated their abilities, this now adds on the capabilities they have to take it all a long way further. And they have.

Spoilt for choice, there are youtube videos available for each and every song, sometimes more than one. But let’s tear opt to open that wound again, for Standing On The Fault Line:

I’m With Her online : Website / Facebook / Tik Tok / Instagram

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube