''Salt as Wolves'' is the tenth album by American

singer/songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted thr ...

Jeffrey Foucault Jeffrey Foucault (born January 26, 1976) is an American songwriter and record producer from Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States, whose work marries the influence of American country, blues, rock 'n' roll, and folk music. He has released seven ...

, released in 2015. It debuted at number 7 in the ''Billboard'' Top Blues Album Chart for the week of November 7, 2015. The planning of the album started when Foucault was in Iowa sharing the stage with The Pines, a Minneapolis-based group that included the sons of Bo Ramsey, who had produced Foucault's album ''Ghost Repeater''. Ramsey sat in with the group and afterwards Foucault arranged for him to work on the recordings for ''Salt as Wolves''. (The album title comes from the

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

''.) "Blues for Jessie Mae" is a tribute to blues singer

Jessie Mae Hemphill Jessie Mae Hemphill (October 18, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage. Life and career Hemp ...

Reception

Writing for

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, critic Ben Ratliff wrote that "Foucault sings in a rich, textured, word-smearing voice about subjects of burned-out middle age: love, lying, regret, highways, hauntings, escape, aloneness, forgiveness, the value of a simple thing, the void without it." He called the album " immaculately tailored within a certain tradition... It is aesthetically informed up to the eyes. It sounds casual, but it can grow oppressive quickly.

Track listing

All songs by Jeffrey Foucault unless otherwise noted. # "Des Moines" – 3:14 #"Rico" – 4:12 #"Left This Town" – 3:10 #"I Love You (And You Are a Fool)" – 2:29 #"Blues for Jessie Mae" – 3:53 #"Slow Talker" – 3:57 #"Jesus Will Fix It for You" (

) – 4:41 #"Oh Mama" – 4:20 #"Hurricane Lamp" – 2:59 #"Strange Heat and Thunder" – 3:15 #"Paradise" – 3:17 #"Take Your Time" (Foucault, Billy Conway) – 3:55

Personnel

– vocals, guitar *

Caitlin Canty Caitlin Canty (born January 24, 1982) is an American singer/songwriter. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' calls Canty's alto a "casually devastating voice" and NPR says her music mixes "a gritty side with aching ballads.". Originally from Vermon ...

– background and harmony vocals *Billy Conway – drums *

Bo Ramsey Bo Ramsey (born Robert Franklin Ramsey, 1951 in Burlington, Iowa, United States) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording producer. Career He made his debut in Williamsburg, Iowa in 1973, fronted the Mother Blues Band, and ro ...

– guitar *Jeremy Moses Curtis – bass

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Jeffrey Foucault albums