New Times “Puhidua” Review…
It's hard to choose, but I think my favorite song off Natalie Haskins' amazing new album, Puhidua (which means "wildflowers" in her mother's tribe's tongue), is "When You Think of California." The chorus is so damn hooky it got stuck in my head after the very first listen: "Of all the girls you meet out there down that never-ending road/ Killing time beneath those blue eyes and calling your arms their home/ There's just one thing I'll ask of you only one thing I could need/ When you think of California won't you please just think of me?"
Haskins has a remarkable voice—warm and clear with the sort of dewy sense of wonder evoked by Kacey Musgraves. She's also a gifted songwriter and lyricist. Get ahold of this verse from "Love Me": "When I'm on your last nerve and you can't stand the looks of me/ When I'm sitting next to you and all you want is an empty seat/ When I've gained a pound or two and those lines you start to see/ Just remember our younger days when I was your queen bee."
The album, which has as beautiful a package as I've seen in a locally produced CD, has been a years-long labor of love for Haskins, and she's enlisted an A-team of local performers including Terry Lawless (keys and sax), Bob Liepman (cello), Bob Hamilton (pedal steel), and others to join her core band, Benji Cheedle (drums), Anthony Leos-Thayer (bass), and Warren Haskins (lead guitar).
Recorded at Kip Stork's Avalon Digital Recording Studio and Damon Castillo's Laurel Lane Studios in SLO as well as Dan Curcio's When It Hits Records in Arroyo Grande, the production is top-notch.
I really can't say enough good things about this new record. There's not a clunker among the 16 gem-like tracks. If you like country and Americana music, this is worth adding to your collection.
The best way to currently get a copy is by emailing Haskins at thesoundsoflovelylady@gmail.com. It can also be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
-Glen Starkey
New Times
June 11, 2020
https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobispo/live-oak-lives-on-virtually/Content?oid=9778238
