Now & Then: Reese McHenry’s Forever and the reach of Furnace Room Lullaby
Some records show up as a comeback, some as a coronation. Released posthumously, Forever arrives with a sadder kind of gravity, but it does not feel hushed or fragile from the outside. Even the title has a little swagger. So do the songs gathered under it. McHenry’s work always carried that useful contradiction, where the voice could sound world-weary and ready to laugh at the same time, and where a tune could feel lived-in without ever slumping into the sounds of a polite singer-songwriter.