Rett Madison Navigates the Troubled Waters of Personal Darkness on “Shame is a River”

Rett Madison “Shame is a River” cover (cropped)

Rett Madison’s voice emerges boldly from the understated, textural guitar work of her single “Shame is a River.” The song seems to tell the tale of growing up in an environment where you can’t live your authentic life openly and you keep your struggles and your pain to yourself out a sense of shame and potential humiliation at admitting to anything that might make you seem weak or immoral in a social climate that isn’t supportive and out of a sense of obligation to others and not burdening them with your troubles. But often enough in life we find that if we can bring ourselves to cross that river of shame we find that there are people who know what it’s like or at least aren’t so conditioned by a twistedly stoic cultural framework and able to at least sympathize and we can find support and even a shared strength and sense of place. And perhaps most significantly for ourselves if we can be open about these issues with which we struggle we can work through them or at least feel free from them for a time by speaking our truth rather than feeling the need to always hide away the aspect of ourselves that aren’t so removed from the experiences of most people. Putting this process into song extends that personal claiming of dignity to the potential aid of other people who feel alone in their pain as well. The song in going from minimal guitar and vocals blossoming in volume and adding piano and percussion perfectly embodies going from shame to shedding it at least a little. Listen to “Shame is a River” on Soundcloud and connect with Rett Madison at the links provided.