{"id":792455,"date":"2019-01-28T11:21:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=785223"},"modified":"2019-01-28T11:21:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T18:21:20","slug":"song-you-need-to-know-caroline-spence-mint-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/song-you-need-to-know-caroline-spence-mint-condition\/","title":{"rendered":"Song You Need To Know: Caroline Spence, \u2018Mint Condition\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Country and folk storytellers have never had any problem portraying the rush of instant love or the devastation of heartbreak. Writing about the rich complexity of long-lasting love has generally proved much more difficult. Nashville singer-songwriter Caroline Spence<\/a> does just that on \u201cMint Condition,\u201d the title ballad to her upcoming album.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome things they last, and some things, they won\u2019t,\u201d she sings, before harmonizing with Emmylou Harris on the chorus: \u201cOh, but nothing \u2019bout you ever gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spence is interested in exploring the ways in which love hardens and deepens with time, setting up devoted partnership as a counterbalance to the inevitable process of aging, where \u201cthat feeling of comfort overtakes desire.\u201d Spence tells her story in part through the song\u2019s languid tempo, which mirrors the power and comfort that the song\u2019s central relationship has found in the slowed-down pace of its later years.<\/p>\n

Spence\u2019s latest is in conversation with\u00a0classics like Neil Young\u2019s \u201cHarvest Moon,\u201d<\/a> Lori McKenna\u2019s \u201cGood Marriage\u201d or John Prine\u2019s \u201cGlory of True Love\u201d<\/a> \u2014 rare, precious songs that explore blissful contentment and stability, rather than romanticizing lost love and regret.<\/p>\n