Milwaukee's Barb and Tom Webber describe
their third disc as "roots/Americana/folk," but that may actually be
selling them a tad short. Yes, Tom has a craggy baritone that suggests the lost
brother of Jim Post or John Prine, and chief songwriter Barb sounds like she
could have come from a family that includes Joan Baez and Kathy Mattea. Yet,
like fellow married Americana
purveyors Buddy and Julie Miller, the Webbers have a knack for making music
that, with just a little tweaking, would sound at home on commercial country
radio.
The
occasional hint of smoky jazz and a few hooks that could pass for pop—one of
the two non-originals here is a BoDeans remake—would be easy enough to morph
into country radio. And their original tunes, covering everything from humorous
marital spats to solving the troubles of the world, would make for some of the
more thoughtful lyrics in the country genre, too. Still, they inhabit their
music so personably that it’d be a crime to limit them to commercial country
hits. Indeed, Milwaukee
is fortunate to have this unique couple doing what they do so well.
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