Songwriter Senora May debuted her sophomore album “All of My Love” on Valentine’s Day, a lush collection of love songs produced by one of her biggest influences, songwriter @jessicaleamayfield. May grew up in Irvine, Ky., and her imaginative songwriting pays homage to her life nestled in the hills of Estill County.
May is the wife of famed Kentucky country singer @timmytychilders and her album draws not only on the chaos of being married to a traveling musician, but of her evolution as an artist finding her voice.
Title track “All of My Love” balances being a homemaker and lover with a desire to stay fiercely independent. May’s songwriting combs the comedic details of ordinary life in a way that recalls songwriting legend John Prine.
“I ain’t ever tried to be your nagging wife / I’d rather skin a fox in the fading light,” May sings.
“Intertwine,” opens the album, a jilt of stark piano setting a desolate tone that slowly builds into an atmospheric soundscape of strings and angelic vocals.
“So come on home and be my daddy / Way out here in the country,” May sings, her sultry delivery conjuring Atlanta indie soul queen Cat Power.
May’s second album echoes the stunning geography and beautifully minute details of her Appalachian homeplace. The flicker of a kerosene lamp beckons another hard day’s work. “I’m a dirty girl that cleans up nice,” she sings on the deceptively catchy track “Naturally.” Sparks soon fly on a raucous star-crossed mountain evening, as May captures a drunken snapshot of lovers quarreling simply for the thrill that lies in the act of making up. She sings of shouldering through her share of droughts, fires, floods and of watching shadows dance across the yard while a pack of farm dogs howl at the moon. The mountain sky is painted in deep shades of blue and soon shifts into yellow hues of dappled light that filter through the trees. May’s painstaking depiction of her eastern Kentucky home recalls the poetic prose of fellow Kentuckian, novelist Silas House.
May’s eight songs are an authentic peek into her relationship with the wildlife and people of eastern Kentucky, yet the album doesn’t pigeonhole her into one singular genre. “All of My Love,” adopts a multi-genre, experimental approach that ushers May into a crop of critically-adored Americana voices.
The collaboration between May and Mayfield proved to be serendipitous, perhaps because the pair’s similar rural upbringings and distinct poetic lyricism share overwhelming overlap.
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