Singer/songwriter/guitarist Deirdre McCalla performs Sat., Nov. 15, at Mountain Moving Coffeehouse for Womyn and Children, 7:30 p.m., Summerdale Community Church, 1700 W. Farragut, (312) 409-0276.
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Some 30 years after the release of her debut album, Fur Coats and Blue Jeans, Deidre McCalla is back with her latest disc Playing For Keeps (MaidenRock). Continuing to combine her persuasive political messages with folk, country, bluegrass and gospel musical arrangement, McCalla’s latest is definitely a keeper.
McCalla shines her unique sense of humor on ‘If God Only Knew,’ a song about a serious subject, on which she is joined by Linda Tillery. Touching on topical matters ‘from crusades to jihads,’ McCalla sings ‘Armies line up/And their hearts fill with pride/Each one convinced/They’ve got god on their side.’ You can almost hear her shaking her in the chorus as she sings, ‘For if God only knew/What’s being done in her name/She’d realize the humans/Have all gone insane.’
Playing For Keeps also has a pair of songs about letting go of love. ‘Moving On From Here,’ contains the empowering lines, ‘Looking straight ahead/Facing the fear/I can’t undo what’s done/But I am moving on from here,’ which is a sentiment to which many people can relate. ‘Thanks For Asking’ deals with the dreaded experience of running into an ex-lover after a break-up and is infused with a positive outlook.
‘Mama Loves Me,’ which is about the many ‘ways to be a family,’ deserves to become the theme song of alternative families everywhere. In the song, McCalla, who is a co-founder of Atlanta Family Pride, sings about same-sex parents, single moms, and blended families, with a warm, loving and parental embrace.