American Folk: Casey Abrams' Like a Mirror

A young Loudon Wainwright III. I’m not talking about Wainwright’s son, Rufus. I’m talking about the intimate, finger-picking guitar, subtle folk beauty vocals, and wry humor, dark corner portraits of Casey Abrams. Like a Mirror is part of the Wampus Multimedia Sessions, which present singer-songwriters recorded in the course of one day.

Abrams lashes out as he sings “la-la-la-la” on “Nobody’s Song,” saying, “This is the song I would have written for you/But it’s written for nobody now.” It’s that humor-filled lyric of derision that finds Abrams in the company of Wainwright.

You can also hear Dylan’s country folk picking on “So Long Away,” even while the lyrics about rivers and trains invoke the Canadian landscape of Gordon Lightfoot. Dylan’s obviously in the room to for “The Times They Have a-Changed.”

“We Don’t Care How You Do It Up North” is a wonderful country blues dust-up, taking us down South? to reject all parts—North, East, and West—and their ways. Maybe it’s even a rejection of the South (“We don’t care how you do it back home”). The light-heartedness is met by the Boo Radley-creepiness of “Ghost Story,” a ballad of stories about the spirits wandering this world with that dying curiosity that compelled the kids to find Boo in that mystery house.


The Loudon Wainwright III comparison rings even more true considering that one of Abram’s press photos features him in a M.A.S.H. 4077 T-shirt. Wainwright was featured on three early episodes of the television series, M.A.S.H., singing songs around camp in that free-flowing, high-spirited, “this is hell” protest feeling. I’d follow Abrams around camp to kick out the blues, protest the evils while raising a toast.

Thanks to Mark Doyon at Wampus Multimedia for the review copy.