Melody Moko - Two Kids & A Radio - Deluxe (2021)

The assured and often poignant second effort by the rootsy NSW singer/songwriter is grounded in a subject that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves: the toil it takes to be an artist who’s also a working mother. The sacrifices and compromises this duality entails are certainly on Moko’s mind in “Save Me Rock & Roll”; “It’s a poet’s curse to have words inside your head,” she sings, “I’ll keep on singing them while someone puts my kids to bed.” Delivered with a raw vulnerability that evokes Margo Price and Lucinda Williams, the songs here benefit from Moko’s increasingly distinctive take on Americana, along with some searing guitar lines supplied by her producer and husband, Michael Muchow.