Music
Wax & Gold
Two decades after 'Mother Mother,' the singer-songwriter makes a beautiful album about family
Tracy Bonham celebrates family life all over her fifth album — it’s full of gorgeous Americana twang, cut in Woodstock with guests like Langhorne Slim and Amy Helm. Nearly 20 years after “Mother Mother,” she testifies about the hopes and fears of being a rock & roll mama in tunes like “Black Tears” and “Luck.” The emotional peak is also the musical one: “This Here’s My Grandpa’s Guitar,” where she takes that guitar on a journey from her childhood roots (“I wish I could go back in time/To hear him play ‘Sweet Adeline'”), trying to catch an echo of his old-school sound long enough to pass it on to the next generation.