“Time is not your remedy, no amount of fear will make you brave.” 

The Crane Wives have always been masters of storytelling, and their album Coyote Stories is a shining example. It’s an evocative collection of folk-rock songs that weave together rich narratives, introspective lyricism, and a blend of musical genres. While folk elements still appear, like their acoustic guitars, mandolin, and fiddle, there’s an increased emphasis on layered textures and experimental soundscapes. The album marks a mature step in the band’s evolution, moving from the energetic, harmony-laden folk-pop of their earlier works into deeper, more atmospheric storytelling that embraces their now-signature themes of self-discovery, romantic and familial relationships, and the natural world. At its core, Coyote Stories is about transformation and confrontation of the self. As the album’s title suggests, it’s also an exploration of the wild and untamed, with coyotes serving as a metaphor for navigating the darker, more instinctual sides of oneself. 

I think of the album in two different ways. ‘Keep You Safe’, ‘Hard Sell’, ‘The Hand That Feeds’, ‘Sleeping Giants’, and ‘New Discovery’ tell the tale of the singer as a person: where they came from, everything they dislike about themselves, aspects of themselves which were inherited or earned, and their desire to change. The singer repeatedly confronts the dark reality that they aren’t the person they want to be and contemplates the truths they’ve learned while becoming this person. ‘Keep You Safe’ is probably my favorite song on the album: I’ve always had anxiety, so the sentiment of “the older I get, the more fears I collect” is one that spoke to me personally – the lyrics show an understanding born of experience. So although these tracks tell us about the personal journey of the singer, they also convey collective experiences. Taking special care in ‘The Hand That Feeds’ to call out the forceful system they have laboured under, they use the opportunity to decry the “American Dream” their father worked for. “He taught me that the hand that feeds, deserves to be bitten when it beats”. The Crane Wives aren’t just telling a personal narrative of life, they’re speaking to the experience of every American raised with expectations that went unmet by society. 

The other tracks on the album, ‘The Moon Will Sing’, ‘Allies or Enemies’, ‘Unraveling’, ‘Rockslide’, ‘Metaphor’, ‘Little Soldiers’, ‘Of Everlong’, and ‘Never Love An Anchor’, are the tale of the person they love and how everyone they’ve loved before has changed them. Sometimes they’re telling their current love about their past ones (“Don’t look too hard ’cause you won’t like the scars he left in me”), and sometimes they’re singing backward into their past to speak to one who’s already gone (“I loved you like the sun, bore the shadows that you made with no light of my own.”). Throughout the album, they oscillate between the good and bad times with their lovers, and thread themselves through time to tell us about it. The romance in the songs comes second to the personal narrative of how love affected them, which I think empowers the thematic confrontation of the self; the singer is no longer defining themselves by their partner, but rather telling the story of how the partner helped them grow. The album displays their growth both narratively and internally. 

Coyote Stories reaches its tenth anniversary this year, and I’d strongly recommend giving it a listen even if you aren’t typically a folk music enjoyer. It’s been a great ten years watching The Crane Wives evolve as a band and, now that they’ve returned last September after a hiatus, I hope they’ll gain the recognition they deserve. 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons