Chris Straw is among the latest members of Milwaukee’s acoustic music community whose scene may be in the midst of a real moment. The former member of bluegrassers Pickin’ Up Speed and folkies The Moxie Chicks makes her solo debut with the eclectic Echoes of Home. In what could be her most affecting mode, she proffers non-denominational odes of human interconnectedness, contentedness and wistfulness.
Echoes doubles as a bit of a showcase for several other Milwaukee folk personalities, such as Frogwater fiddler Susan Nicholson, banjoist Chris “Ives” Iverson, guitarist Jon Pagenkopf and Straw’s co-producer, Gym Mooney. The most curious of her collaborations occurs with Fair Webber’s Tom Webber, who sings with her a peculiar minor-key story song about an agrarian couple who destroy the representational art they mistakenly believe God forbids. Concluding with an adaptation of a gentle 19th-century hymn extolling the unity of life on Earth makes a hopeful end note for Home.
