CD Review

Ben Franklin set high standards of personal living. In fact, Franklin compiled a list of 13 virtues to define inner success: temperance, industry, sincerity and resolution, to name a few. A couple hundred years on, it might be easy to dismiss his humane goals as idealistic thinking in a more earnest time. Quite the opposite is true, really. The world might well be a more utopian place if more followed Franklin’s guidelines. Sort of like Boulder, Colorado – but with more soul and fewer BMWs.

If The Art of Virtue is any indication, Adrienne Young lives by Franklin’s teachings. She’s an outspoken proponent of local farmers, human rights and activism in both local community and international politics. This is weighty stuff, folks, but Young pulls it off gracefully. There’s not an ounce of pretentiousness behind songs like “It’s All the Same” or the title track. It’s evident that Young sincerely wants to help better the world around her, and The Art of Virtue is an elegant body of work because of it.

Acoustic music by nature sounds old-timey, and the universal, ancient themes Young touches on make this album sound even more drawn from a historical context. But like the best stories, the whole of The Art of Virtue is timeless. Under the impression that sociopolitical activism is boring stuff? Check out “Jump the Broom” – it’s as fun as a moonshine hootenanny in the Tennessee hills. Listen three times, and you’ll be volunteering for your local representative by morning.