“Three Red Feathers” is the latest album by string band, The Blackberry Bushes who are known for their music in Americana, bluegrass and folk genres.

All songs are original and most are written by lead singer Jes Raymond.

“Brown Bird” features lyrics dealing with everyday life and how its aspects can, sometimes, be overwhelming.

The brown bird in the song represents the constant reminder of simple problems in people’s lives and tells listeners that life can get hard, but it’s not worth giving up on.

“Three Red Feathers,” once again, is about the frustrations of life, but this time the lyrics focus more on letting anger and emotions go.

The song stresses letting emotion out, how it is important and describes an analogy, very descriptively, of letting go of an arrow on a bow.

“Around the Bend” shifts to a different type of difficulty in life – the frustrations of love and how broken love can’t be seen right away.

This track is completely different from the first two, in that, its slower, darker tone is what is coming from the instruments.

“The Fool Hearted Try Harders” keeps the darker, broken-hearted tone that “Around the Bend” had, but this time the tempo slows down even more.

The lyrics still focus on broken love, but instead of a relationship’s end, this song is about love that is continuing but isn’t going anywhere.

“Same Mistakes” is the first song that begins with vocal harmony instead of instrumental harmony and it is one of the fastest songs on the album.

The message is that the hustle and bustle of everyday life is hard and full of mistakes, but the relaxing side of life is an easier and a much-preferred experience.

“Gold Rush/Kissimee Kid” features all instrumental music with solos from each instrument. Although, most of the play time, and one of the most complex solos on the whole album, is given to the fiddle on this track.

“Paper Roses” allows the album to return to vocals. Its lyrics describe remembering a past, great love that has turned into something dark.

According to the song’s lyrics, the couple’s love life wants to stay alive, but the lyrics always point to the problems of keeping it going.

“Out on the Western Plains” is the wildest song featured on this album. The tone of this song completely shifts away from the previous ones, converting to a western sound.

The unique tone fits with the song though because it’s all about the struggles that come with living out west. 

“Hickory is Dependable” starts off slow, with lyrics about a man returning from war and how he builds his life back up.

The man has a great job and has worked for everything he has had, but it doesn’t take away from the important things in his life, like his family.

This song has a strong storytelling style that relates one man’s lessons learned to a message about what life actually should be full of.

“Little White Sin” tackles the subject of addiction to alcohol and how struggles with addiction can create a balancing act with love.

The emotion from Raymond’s voice is shown off in this song, especially nearing the end, as more frustration builds up.

“Sam’s Song” features metaphors that relate to another person like, “You’re the part of the song we all rewind” and “the story we are up all night to read.”

These lyrics are sang in a happy tone making it the most upbeat song on the album.

“The Lady of the Mountains” is not upbeat, but there is beauty in the song writing instead, with very light music being played in the background.

The song is about a love for the mountains and is very much inspired by nature, making listeners feel the seasons change around them.

This album enhances who The Blackberry Bushes are, as a band, by shifting the each song’s tone. Another message from this album is how humans deal with everyday struggles in life and how they get away from them.

The album’s power to be relatable and the unique changes in style make for a great experience that is easy to come back and re-listen to.