by Richard Skelly » Sat May 19, 2018 10:59 pm
Not long ago, riffing on RadioWest about True North Records, I declared Whispering Rain a tragically overlooked-in-the-USA album. To my ears, it was Murray McLauchlan’s opus—just a splendid collection of always-melodic pop-country-folk. Largely self-produced, some songs—as I recall—even featured The Jordanaires on some backup harmonies.
That Whispering Rain didn’t give him the American cred of labelmate Bruce Cockburn shows what a cruel, capricious endeavour a recording career can be. I certainly bucked up Murray’s spirits when he made the Vancouver media rounds to promote the disc. Indeed, I gave him a lift after our chat to his next interview in Kitsilano. Being my usual reticent self, I told him it was “can’t miss” and that the title track, in particular, “had it in the grooves”. It and the album did...just not to American tastemakers.
You’ve Got No Time is a good ‘un, too.