Paper Flower

Tim O'Brien might operate a bit under music business radar, but he's been an essential part of the fabric of the folk, bluegrass, Americana, and songwriter scenes for the past fifty years. Since his emergence as singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter with the iconic 1980's bluegrass group Hot Rize, the West Virginia native has continued down a diverse and constantly evolving musical pathway. In the process he's written songs for people like Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks, released rootsy classics like "Red on Blonde" and "The Crossing", and earned a few Grammy awards.  For the past ten years, O'Brien has performed primarily with his wife Jan Fabricius, and their new release "Paper Flowers" is tangible proof of that deep collaboration.As O'Brien explains, their partnership started informally. "Jan started adding harmony vocals to shows and recordings soon after we became a couple in 2013. We would play music around the house, and she would learn new songs as I wrote them. Then soon enough we started writing together."  When Cathy Fink and Jon Weisberger approached O'Brien in 2023 to contribute to what became 2024's "Bluegrass Sings Paxton", Tim and Jan wrote "You Took Me In"  with the man himself. Encouraged by the results, the three scheduled weekly Zoom co-writing sessions and the songs kept coming.  "Paper Flowers" includes twelve of those songs as well as three more originals, 2 of which Jan and Tim wrote together and one that Tim wrote.Recorded at Cowboy Arms and the Tractor Shed in Nashville with help from longtime collaborators like bassists Mike Bub and Edgar Meyer, fiddler Shad Cobb, keyboard ace Mike Rojas and drummer Larry Atamanuik, the result is a story-in-song of the couple's life together. O'Brien says, "We'd been carving out our duet stage identity for years and now we had a body of our own songs. It was time to make this record".The mood on "Paper Flowers" ranges from the breezy swing of "Atchison" and "This Gal of Mine", through the rockabilly of "Blacktop Rag Mop", to country duets like "Hungry Heart" and "Yellow Hat". The couple tell their origin story on the title track and sing in the voice of a pesky varmint on "Lonesome Armadillo". "Father of the Bride" and "Always the Sunrise" are ready-made wedding anthems, and Jan's lead vocal recounts an overheard conversation between girlfriends on the rocking "Down to Burn". Later she tells the true story of a honkytonk pianist's final days in "I Look Good in Blue". The duo invites us to a gospel singalong on "Back to Eden", and Tim relates the fear of falling in love on "Fat Pile of Puppies". Meyer's and O'Brien's bowed strings back the tragic story of a school shooting on "Covenant". We witness a dawning day in the couple's life together on O'Brien's only solo,  "Here with Me", which concludes the set. O'Brien's own Howdy Skies Records celebrates 25 years with this release, and the memorable stories and sweet harmony of "Paper Flowers" is an overdue statement from the musical husband and wife team of Tim O'Brien and Jan Fabricius.