Blanche

Taking a page from old time, country, western, bluegrass and modern rock; Detroit’s Blanche embrace their tough town background with nostalgic Appalachian roots music. Blanche thrives on incorporating a cinematic mood, with a spooky overshadow via acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and banjos. Bouncing No Depression era songs of paranoia and plight, the appropriately titled If We Can’t Trust The Doctors… also makes for mighty good drinking company.

Led by the husband and wife combo of Dan and Tracee Miller - who once played in a short lived band with Jack White of the White Stripes - Blanche delivers songs about superstitions, garbage pickers, lost summers and the underbelly of bad dreams.

The album immediately begins with the haunting presence of "Who’s To Say…," complete with a lonesome pedal steel by a band member appropriately titled "Feeny," filling the song with a solemn groove. The relationship between the two Millers is signified in the soft spoken "Do You Trust Me," where lines of insecurity and hope trade in a lover’s quarrel of insecurity and admission. "Bluebird," another country-western tune, features the two singing in call-in-response pattern that makes for a sweet passage of lyrics.

The mood is powerful enough on We Can't Trust The Doctors.. to warrant a more visual medium than a CD - perhaps a soundtrack or on-stage production of some modern day twist of Gone With The Wind[. When Miller sings in "Long Cruel World" – the clouds are hovering a mean blue and purple/no sunshine in my life anymore/Spirits are creeping ‘round every corner/ I’m petrified but I’m unlocking my door – his songs of despair beg for a happy ending. The traditional "Wayfaring Stranger" only adds to the nostalgic feel of the recording at its conclusion.

Although one dimensional in feel and concept, fans of bluegrass and roots rock will find Blanche as a Radiohead to their collection, making the modern and exciting out of something familiar. If Loretta Lynn, who recently won new fans with Van Lear Rose can win them over, the much younger Blanche might be the next up to do the same.