- Record Label: Acony Records
- Release Date: Nov 25, 2016
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Dec 2, 2016Boots' more rough and intimate look behind the duo's evolution and process is in its way no less compulsively listenable than the cohesive Revival itself, which would introduce Welch and Rawlings to the world sounding basically fully formed.
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UncutNov 30, 2016This double-CD set offers clues as to how Welch and Rawlings got there [on Revival], and glimpses down roads not taken. [Jan 2017, p.49]
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Nov 23, 2016It’s a stark but stunning collection, with Rawlings’ exquisite acoustic lead lines dancing around the melodies, and the duo’s harmonies imbuing their songs with poignant shades of emotion.
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Nov 23, 2016This 20th-anniversary set fills a bootlegger’s jug with 21 outtakes and demos of Orphan Girl, Annabelle and the rest. The pick of its eight previously unreleased songs are the caustic I Don’t Want to Go Downtown and the homely Wichita, but every drop is delicious.
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Nov 23, 2016Boots No. 1 plays less like an expansion of Revival than a document of a fertile period of creativity in the life of Gillian Welch, and while fans of the original album will revel in it, you don't have to be familiar with it to be dazzled by the subtle passion, intelligence, and eloquence of this music.
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Nov 23, 2016Part of the revelation of Boots No. 1, then, is witnessing Welch’s music made mortal, to hear her navigating her many influences with a young artist’s enlightened uncertainty, and to hear imperfect recordings that may not necessarily conjure universes on their own accord so much as they recall old-fashioned country music that’d sound at home on the radio.
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MagnetDec 15, 2016It doesn't add a lot to our understanding of Revival. ... Still, it's cool to discover the unreleased songs, including Johnny Cash "One Piece At A Time" homage "Dry Town" and to be reminded of how great Revival is. [No. 138, p.61]
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Dec 12, 2016This record is where it all began before they [Welch and Dave Rawlings] (with the help of producer T Bone Burnett) put out their first disc. In other words, Gillian Welch fans will appreciate hearing the original sounds of the band.