When actress Mare Winningham converted to Judaism a few years ago, Jews welcomed her as a full-fledged MOT. Today she may be Hollywood’s most frum Emmy winner.
Winningham is best known for roles in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.” But she proved her musical prowess with a 1996 Oscar nomination playing a pop star in “Georgia,” in part because she did her own singing.
Given her newfound religious fervor, it’s not surprising Winningham recorded an album of Jewish music. Credit her for attempting something different on her CD “Refuge Rock Sublime,” which blends original songs and Jewish liturgical classics, all wrapped in a sparkly bluegrass vibe.
Unfortunately, the album fails to spark the same spiritual fire Winningham clearly feels. Why? Round up the usual suspects: weak songs and underwhelming execution.
Her band of bluegrass musicians is top notch, managing a consistently crisp acoustic tone throughout. But Winningham’s voice, which boasts a Joan Baez-like vibrato, wears thin before one or two tracks go by.
That first track, “Valley of the Dry Bones,” like several on the album, is biblically influenced, here retelling the familiar story of Ezekiel. That’s normally a safe bet for evoking a modicum of emotion. Not this time. Winningham tells this and other stories straight on, devoid of any artful ambiguity.
The same is true in songs like “Oh Moses” and the annoyingly earnest “What Would David Do.” What can you say about a line like “Recall the king who cared/Read the Psalms and ask yourself: What would David do?” Yuck.
Winningham gets self-referential in tracks like “My Fixed Point” and “A Convert Jig.” The latter is just a big mitzvah scold, listing all the things you really ought to be doing: keep kosher, study the Torah, set your table, say your prayers. It includes the line “I’ll be a Jew like all of you/the tree has grown a twig/I’ll never eat a pig.”
She partially redeems herself on Hebrew tracks like “Al Kol Ele” and the Israeli folk song “Karev Yom.” Singing in the sacred language of the Jewish people, Winningham takes herself out of time and space, out of the SoCal pop/rock milieu she grew up in. Moreover, it’s a revelation to hear how well Israeli music lends itself to bluegrass.
She also scores points on “The Ladder,” a song that belies its nursery rhyme simplicity to create an original parable: not Jacob’s ladder, but Mare’s. And then there’s the title cut, a heartfelt confessional tune reminiscent of an old Neil Young bootleg. Though the lyrics again sag, Winningham somehow pulls it off, making this the CD’s most likeable song.
As when spotting two lovers passionately making out on the sidewalk, one often gets the same icky feeling with Winningham’s public expression of religious zeal. It’s nice she found a spiritual home, but it means a lot more to her than to most listeners.
There is a plodding, workmanlike quality to the performances, odd given her obvious passion. Winningham probably would have benefited from more harmonies, a la Neshama Carlebach, and more complex arrangements.
But ultimately it’s all about the song, and the tunes on “Refuge Rock Sublime” just don’t cut it. Winningham is already highly skilled as a practicing Jew. Maybe she can find a cheder for songwriters out there.
Mare Winningham’s “Refuge Rock Sublime” on Craig ‘N’ Company Records, is available at major national retailers as well as online at the iTunes Music Store.