The best test for a band is the "Beatles test": Does the band get better with time?
Traveling Mercies, the local "folk-rock" Christian group, passes. The group's first album, "The Road to You," sold well and showed good quality. "Directions Home" takes Traveling Mercies another step down the road.
Like all good populist music, the songs on "Directions Home" are not an acquired taste. They're likeable on first hearing. And the more you hear them, the more they get in your head. And for that, listeners can thank Mary Goldring. Goldring stands at the hub of the music here as lead singer, songwriter, rhythm guitarist and cheerleader. Her personality is the band's personality.
Her compositions are clever and varied, her singing earthy and honest. Backed by Dan Salini, Jay Wetmore and Eric and Sabina Lindquist, Goldring shows some influence of other performers in her writing and voice at times — a touch of Joni Mitchell here, a bit of Paul Simon there — but never enough to make her music derivative.
A couple of weeks ago the band staged a kickoff concert for the new CD at a Salt Lake church. And the songs that jumped out at listeners that night jump off this collection as well: "Fire in His Bones," "What Did You Come Here For?" "Ain't It Funny" and the Todd Snider tune, "Somebody's Coming." These are songs with legs, tunes you can expect to hear sooner or later.
The band's first album, "Road to You," boosted the band's reputation and helped raise $5,000 for a good cause.
One wishes Traveling Mercies similar good fortune with their latest effort.