It Can Be Done!

Arkansas-bred and Olympia, Washington-based banjo-strumming songwriter Kendl Winter has been carving out a homespun niche since late in the 2000s, beginning with self-released collections of home recordings. The optimistically titled and spirited It Can Be Done! marks Winter's third album with the legendary K Records, and it improves on the fidelity, focus, and songwriting of 2012's already great The Mechanics of Hovering Flight. Winter's bluegrass roots have always infused her indie songcraft with a dusty old-timey feel, from her death-rattle banjo dirges to the summery yodel that sometimes creeps into her vocals. It Can Be Done! finds Winter's music coming into its own, still deeply enamored with the spare banjo and rustic harmonies of bluegrass and Appalachian music, but with both lyrics and musical themes coming from a place more personal than traditional. Tracks like "How to Keep It Hawt" manage a strange synthesis of Winter's musical obsessions and her own perspectives, with an u