Archive Review: Mary Cutrufello’s When the Night Is Through (1998)

“Heartland” rock ruled the roost during the ‘80, dominating the charts and blazing a fearsome trail through the arenas and stadiums of Middle America. This roots-based style of rock ‘n’ roll, once practiced by folks like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp, has today become sadly passe. Not because there was anything fundamentally wrong with the music. The cynicism of the early ‘90s, perhaps best illustrated by Kurt Cobain and Nirvana and their many clones, has given way to an entirely market-driven pop music landscape that is light, fluffy, non-controversial and, well, coldly calculated to separate the fools, er…record buying public from their hard-earned coin. There’s no room at the inn for gritty, optimistic, realistic, guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll…

Mary Cutrufello’s When the Night Is Through

An entirely engaging debut from an unabashed Springsteen fan, Mary Cutrufello – a young African-American woman – makes with When the Night Is Through the best case yet for the equality and liberation provided by rock music. Working in a vein that is definitely “heartland” influenced, Cutrufello belts out songs of love and betrayal, the weariness of life’s burdens and the endless possibilities of two lanes of smooth blacktop like a character out of a Springsteen song. Like most debuts, When the Night Is Through has its flaws, mostly due to Cutrufello’s unchained exuberance.

But when Cutrufello hits the bull’s eye – such as with the bittersweet “Tired and Thirty” or the anthemic “Tonight’s the Night” – she creates an emotional mix of lyrics and music that is universally appealing and overtly optimistic in the face of overwhelming circumstances. It’s this lyrical ability to relate realistic common themes that made heartland rock so popular with the mass of working class fans in the first place, fans that have been ill served these past few years by vacuous pop and over-promoted, pre-fabricated trends like electronica.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Definitely out-of-step with musical trends and cultural currents, Cutrufello marches to the beat of her own different drummer. Whether she represents the first ripples in a new wave of heartland rock or is merely a musical anomaly, Cutrufello feels the passion that drove such rockers as Bruce Springsteen, Joe Grushecky, or John Mellencamp to create great music. Like she says in “Tonight’s the Night”: “I’m almost 22 and I’m old enough to know/’bout the fire in my heart and the fever in my soul…” It’s a testament to Cutrufello’s talent and charisma that she got to buck the trends and make When the Night Is Through in the first place. I’m willing to bet that we’ll hear more from this young talent in the future. (Mercury  Records, released 1998)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™