Suffused with melancholy and aching with the sweet sorrow of parting,
Adieu False Heart is an aptly titled discourse on the journey from heartbreak to healing. Linda Ronstadt and the acclaimed Cajun belter Ann Savoy, who first teamed on the 2002 Cajun music tribute album
Evangeline Made, sing solo and in harmony with a delicacy and knowing restraint that may even surprise the artists' longtime followers. These are intimate confessions, arranged with spare, acoustic instrumentation (among the key players are Sam Bush on mandolin, Byron House on upright bass, and the incomparable Stuart Duncan on fiddle, with Kristin Wilkinson doing her usual superb job on string arrangements) that provides gentle ballast for these 13 songs. The pair extend their Cajun collaboration with three tunes sung in French Cajun, including the 1930s hit "Parlez-Moi D'amour," its ethereal vocal duet boasting a tender winsomeness worthy of Edith Piaf's most memorable paeans to the lovelorn. They range far and wide for the rest of their material: The rustic title song is based on a 19th-century tune popularized by Arthur Smith; the duo cop a hypnotic kiss-off number, "The One I Love Is Gone," from Bill Monroe; Julie Miller's "I Can't Get Over You" elicits a tear-inducing reading from Ronstadt, whose interpretation is as moving for what she holds back as for what it gives in emotional wallop; and Richard Thompson is the recipient of extraordinarily deep performances of his lilting, slightly acidic "King of Bohemia" and his devastating sotto voce ballad "Burns' Supper." Topping it off, a Cajun ballad makeover transforms the Left Banke hit "Walk Away Renée." A transcendent experience,
Adieu False Heart is all raw nerve, but it hurts so good.
