Country/Folk/Bluegrass
Pharis and Jason Romero:
Long Gone Out West


Produced by: Pharis and Jason Romero
Released: 2013 www.pharisandjason.com

Pharis and Jason Romero first met in 2007 and started playing together. They both had quite a bit of musical background in performing and blended well as is evident in their music. Their first album together was released in 2007 and this is their second release as a duo. Along with making albums and performing they also teach in music camps and bluegrass workshops. For bluegrass lovers this album will be very pleasing. The musicianship and singing are excellent as is the song writing.

Seven of the songs are written or co-written by them. The production is also first class. The music features the traditional bluegrass instruments, guitar, banjo, and fiddle and the lyrics and melodies are also traditional. The lyrics by themselves appear to be on the down side, but the melodies and performing have a bright upbeat feel on most of the songs and the atmosphere of the album is light and upbeat.

It starts out with a song written by Pharis titled Sad Old Song:

 And the whole room dies down when you sing out a sad song

One little voice to carry the room along

But it don’t matter when the room dies down

The playing on the acoustic instruments is well done and has a good feel to it.  The songs are the old story telling type of songs about people traveling through the west, like Long Gone Out West Blues:

 Going out west for the mountain breeze

The high plains are killing me

Where the wild still roam and the trees grow high

It’s a long gone out west blues

Truck Driver Blues continues the traveling atmosphere with its bits of country real life lessons and philosophies:

 Feeling tired and weary from my head down to my shoes

Said I’m feeling tired and weary from my head down to my shoes

Got a low down feeling truck driver’s blues

Ride, ride, ride on into town

There’s a honkytonk gal a-waiting, and I’ve got troubles to drown

Never did have nothing, got nothing left to lose

Said I never did have nothing, got nothing left to lose

Got a low down feeling, truck driver’s blues

There is a break in the vocal numbers with Lost Lula and again with Sally Goodin which are banjo instrumentals and display some nice finger picking as do all of the songs.

If you like bluegrass I really think you will like this album.

[Greg Bennett]

Bluegrass/Folk
The Quiet American (Aaron and Nicole Keim): Wild Bill Jones
No Producer Listed
Released: 2013


http://quietamericanmusic.com/

The Quiet American is the name of a duo made up of a husband and wife by the names of Aaron and Nicole Keim. The instruments they play are too numerous to mention. They include many traditional bluegrass instruments like guitar, banjo, lap steel, and many others, some Aaron built himself. He spent time in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon where he worked as a luthier for Mys-Moe Ukuleles. Prior to that he lived and performed in Colorado with a band called Boulder Acoustic Society, after which he went back to basics and old time folk music. Nicole is a musician and artist and met and teamed up with Aaron in Oregon where they both shared a love of old traditional folk music.

The Album starts out with upbeat bluegrass tunes, Apple in the Fall, Give the Fiddler a Dream, Come Walkin’ with Me. Posey’s Song has the feel of an old Irish folk song from long ago and is sung by Nicole to a mythical character named Wild Bill Jones, whose tale is told in the song Wild Bill Jones.

The duo also includes old fashioned bluegrass style gospel music such as Keys to the Kingdom:

“I’ve got the keys to the kingdom

Please unlock the door

I’ve got the keys to the kingdom

The world can’t do me no harm.”

Some of the songs are written by the Keims and some are traditional songs arranged by them and three are by other authors. One of the more well known traditional songs is Gallows Pole:

“Lover did you bring me silver

Lover did you bring me gold

Lover did you bring me anything

To keep me from the gallows pole

You didn’t bring me silver

You didn’t bring me gold

You just came to watch me hang

Hanging from the gallows pole”

The album is supposedly about the old West character Wild Bill Jones but most of the songs could really be about anything in history and about the old West in general. The musicianship is excellent and the sincerity and feeling is evident in their treatment and performance of the music. They display skill and background with their instruments and include a few others on three of the tracks on bass, fiddle, harmonica, and guitar. The album comes across to me like a very romantic journey through the old West. It is filled with upbeat bluegrass, old time gospel and ballads like What Are They Doing In Heaven Today. The music is entirely acoustic and would appeal to those who like old guitar and banjo folk music.

Country Acoustic
Shanna Underwood:
Fieldnotes From A Caravan
Produced by: Shanna Underwood and Azal KhanReleased: 


2011www.cdbaby.com/cd/shannaunderwoodhttp://reverbnation.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://sonicbids.com/shannaunderwoodhttp://shannaunderwood.bandcamp.com/

Fieldnotes From A Caravan is an album of songs written by Shanna Underwood on her travels through Nepal, Thailand, and the United States. The album was released in January 2011 and includes an assortment of musicians including, upright bass, drums, electric guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. She herself sings and plays acoustic guitar. The style of the music might be called country blues, although many of the songs are more of a country acoustic style. Her vocals are very rich and well blended with the instruments. The musicianship is excellent as well her song writing. The album opens with There Was A Town which is about small town life and how some people stay and some leave and what it is like to leave and try to come back:

“There was a town
It started small
Smelled like saltwater and smoke in the fall
But folks move around
And now its grown
They weren’t lying when they said you can’t go home
You can never go home

You can’t love a town for what you want it to be
You’ve got to love that town for what it is
And find a little happiness

There was a boy
He was kind and strong
In a young girl’s eyes he could do no wrong
But folks move around
And now she’s gone
Left for school, but this is till the only town he’s known
Old mills and stone”

From Appalachia to the Himalayas is about her travels in that part of the world:


“Sebago Lake in the summer time
Come on in, the water is fine
Don’t be shy, take it all off
I’ll tell you a secret after it gets dark

The leaves are on fire, they’re starting to fall
When they blow away, it makes me feel so small
I light the wood left in the stove, the smell of smoke
Makes me feel less alone

From Appalachia to the Himalayas
I never met anyone like you.”

She does a nice job of putting her experiences to music and into her lyrics. The arrangements are blended well with the acoustic feel all the way through the album and a good mix of guitar, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as the other instruments filling out the sound. Shanna sings with a very comfortable style and has a beautiful voice. It takes the listener through a story of her experiences and ends with a song that has a bit of sadness in it titled Willingly:

There’s a shore that’s safe

We call it home

Water looks deep and cold, but there’s a life out there I know

The siren of dreams is calling me

Saying jump on in

Somedays you just got to let it go

But my fingers getting torn baby busted and worn

Scraping at the shell of a dream

I get up in the morning and run

Cause I don’t know how else to be

I may fall on the pavement

I may get rained on

But I’ll walk into that ocean, willingly


The album is very well done, and Shanna Underwood is well worth listening to.

[Greg Bennett]

Local/Singer Songwriter“
Nobody’s Baby
”Leslie Alexander
www.lesliealexander.com

Alexander is almost local, she’s out of British Colombia, which on a good day is close enough to call our own.

The product was recorded by John MacArthur Ellis at Nashcroft Manor in BC.  Alexander is found on vocals, writing, kazoo and piano, Ellis is on acoustic, electric, pedal steel guitars, keys and bass.  Hank Hendrix works on Dobro, mandolin and banjo.  Rob Becker takes up bass on the third track and is also on supporting vocal work.  Mike Schmidt is behind the kit on tracks 1, 2, 5, 7 & 10, while Pat Steward plays drums on tracks, 3, 4, 9.

Alexander pens tunes that are in what I would call an eclectic mood, but she also has a bit of Tom Waits, living somewhere in her conscious or subconscious mind or memory.  I like the way she moves from very alternative tracks to very ‘out there’ tracks that float through effortlessly.  She takes risk, which makes me smile and has no fear about taking a bit of license with the tune, “Nola” with a nod to The Kinks and rock in general.  The production values change effortlessly as does the lyrical content of her tunes.

Alexander is a vocalist and she risks much with her ballads or show tune vibe, but can belt out a straight ahead rock vibe.  She’s her own woman when it comes to the nature of her vocals and writing, I kept listening for this or that influence, I’m sure there are artists that have impressed her, but she gives no quarter or illuminates little beyond her own style or tune.  The production values are complimentary to writing as well as her vocal approach. There are some good players behind each the vocal and tune.

There is a very soft side to Leslie’s work, but there is also a forged edge also.  Some of her tracks seem to be conversations with somebody that did her wrong, but she’s not getting even, she seems to just be telling her truth.  I like the no self-pity approach to the inner and outer workings of life as a woman.  She is very straight ahead with lyrical content, does not pull any punches, which works well for her rock tunes. She uses great imagery to convey her emotional vibe.

“What Did I Do”, the sixth track reveals another side to the lady.  She becomes tender and beckoning with her plea.   This is a very nice track, the production works well and the mix perfectly matches the mood of the piece.  As I have already discovered, Alexander doesn’t rest on her laurels, the next track is more of a rock/bluegrass vibe that is unrelenting in it’s lyric and tale.  Alexander shines on this track vocally and may be one of my top tracks on the project.  Awesome playing going on within this for three minutes and forty-nine seconds.

“Gimme” slows down the train again and another character or side of Alexander is revealed.  Alexander is not afraid to be rough or vulnerable, which to me makes an artist.  She risks on each cut and it pays off in grand dividends for the ear.  The title cut, “Nobody’s Baby” unfolds like an anthem for Alexander, but also for all of her genders side of the road.  Again, the cut is lyrically straight ahead, the production illuminates her emotions well.

This is a very good product from our friend up North; Alexander is hopefully writing and honing the next piece of work to share with us.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]

FolkRock
“No One Will Remember You”
David Newberry
Produced by: Adam Iredale-Gray
Released: March 15, 2012


http://www.davidnewberry.ca/

www.facebook.com/davidnewberrymusic

www.youtube.com/davidnewberrymusic

http://davidnewberry.bandcamp.com/album/no-one-will-remember-you

David Newberry is a folk singer form Canada whose style is very similar to early Dylan. The music has a strong electric side to it and is very well produced and arranged. He has a good feel for music and is a very talented musician, singer, and songwriter.

The other musicians are talented as well and it shows in the performances. The electric arrangements and performances of the music along with his solid vocals make it a strong folk/rock album. His start in music was not what one might expect.

He injured his hand while working as an assistant carpenter and started playing guitar as physical therapy for his recovery and has developed a style that would fit in well with the sixties folk singers. He was also a fan of punk music which is not at all like the music he now performs.

This is his second album, his first, When We Learn The Things We Need To Learn, was released in 2010 and has spent the years making the rounds of festivals and cafes in his performing career.  When I start paying attention to the lyrics there is a down side though. He sings a lot about the negative side of life as in So It Goes:

I have heard of the days when they paved streets with gold

Now we all walk around in Jack Kerouac’s coat

Preaching the dharma from a packet of smokes

Making fools of ourselves on the daytime talk shows

He even makes a comment about in the liner notes for English Bay where he says sometimes people tell me that instead of just critiquing everything, I should offer alternatives.

They promised us a tunnel through a mountain steep

To pass along the treasures from the ocean deep

Just because you wake up here don’t mean you sleep

You’ll be buried by the railway side counting sheep

In the song Mister he is very straight forward and brief in his notes: This song is about a hangover.

So I packed up as quietly as I could

And I took to the night after you

And I left behind all that I’d promised I’d wanted

And all that I’d promised to do

He has a little note about each song in the booklet that comes with the album and for the final song, To Hope, he writes: this song – an unrequited love letter to hopefulness – was recorded entirely live, sitting in a circle in the living room, very late into the night on the final evening of the recording sessions: there will always be a better day.

He has a very nice style that is easy to listen to and is a very talented singer and songwriter. In spite of the negative critiquing of the world and of life in general his performance makes the album nice to listen to. He has a good voice and a good sound and good arrangements. The album has a mix of acoustic/electric folk/rock and bluegrass influence with the last song, To Hope, picking up the atmosphere with an upbeat bluegrass performance.

[Greg Bennett]

Blues/Slide
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
“Between The Ditches
”www.bigdamnband.com

The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is comprised of The Reverend Peyton on slide guitars, mandolin,vocals and harmonica.  Washboard Breezy Peyton is on, yep, the washboard, percussion and backing vocals.  Aaron “Cuz” Persinger works on bucket, drums, percussion and just plain hollering.  All the tunes were written by the Reverend and the album was also produced by the Rev and Paul Mahern at Mahern’s, White Arc Studios in Bloomigton, Indiana.

“Between The Ditches” is a roaring product that jumps out fast & furious and never stops driving forward.  Peyton’s lyrical approach is just as rapid as his playing; he gives no quarter to the subject he is writing about.  Peyton’s deliveries with his vocals are as unique as his playing, they are meant to be rough and mesh well with his style of playing.  Peyton makes mention of his luthier on the cover and I can hear where and why that was published, he lays into his instrument on each track with abandon producing a very cool and big damned sound.

Peyton’s vision for this work is clear; he is here to get your attention and your toe tapping.  This isn’t the straight ahead blues work that accompanies many blues players.  There is a quality in the work that reminds me of early rock attempts by Blue Oyster Cult and other late 60’s rock groups to communicate their feeling for the art form.  Peyton cements the feeling down and honed his own vision.

One of the aspects that just jumps off the product is the backing rhythms and beats, they drive as hard as Peyton’s playing.  I also really like how the backing vocals were placed in the mix to augment the feeling of some of the tracks.  The vocals parts are as complex and as important as any of the guitar work or percussion.

There is a propensity in the listener to feel that the cuts could be a continuum of the previous track, but Peyton distinctively finds another vibe on his guitar that leads the listener to another place.  Sometimes his lyrical content can get a bit lost, but he tends to augment what is really important to the tune or what  he is attempting to communicate to his audience.

Peyton has a playfulness to this work that serves it well.  I have a feeling this is a serious artist that takes it all a bit tongue in cheek.  Peyton isn’t selling anything; he’s conveying a message with an intensity rarely found in many blues projects.  What is astounding is his commitment to each track and the energy used to accomplish the final work.   From the down beat this product drives like a teenager set free in the family car for their first drive on the open road.

If you like the blues and monster slide guitar work this is a must listen.   The work is serious blues with a huge helping of playfulness that sometimes diverges into a bluegrass feel or a straight-ahead rock feel.  What impresses me the most in the listen is the clarity found in all that is happening in the production. Peyton certainly approached this work with vision and remained true to it.

Simply a great listen with very cool playing and well crafted tunes.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]

Local
Americana/Country
Pretty Little Feet“The Mountain Runners”
www.prettylittlefeet.net

Allegra Ziffle and Matt Novak are Pretty Little Feet, a duo that hales from Bellingham, Washington.   To hear their music without that fact known one might think they were from the Ozarks or Appalachian hills.  There is a very old  thread weaving through this music, which is not only played & produced well, but is relaxing as well.

“The Mountain Runners” is music that was recorded for a film documentary about the Mount Baker Marathon of 1911-1913.  Having lived at the fork of the Nooksack  for a summer and fall, I feel for some reason I should have heard of this somewhere along almost a years worths of travels in that area.  But, alas not a morsel of memory is to be found in the memory banks.  One thing that is remembered well regarding that area of the state is that it could well be the Ozarks or Appalachian hills in it’s traditions.  This is a tight knit, ethnically diverse community up north on the border.  From it stems a long lineage of story tellers of their history, which is one of the aspects I loved while living there.  The weather, that’s another story for another review.

This project was engineered, mixed and mastered by Paul Turpin at Champion St. Sound in Bellingham.  Novak and Ziffle cover all the instruments recorded with Ziffle on Fiddle, banjo, accordion, vocals and clogging.  Novak covers guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo as well as vocals.

This reviewer would have appreciated the video component or partner with this work as it is apparent that these tunes are covering aspects of content, but alone there is a feeling that I am missing something.  That said, this is a well represented recording of music long forgotten and missing from today’s culture of instant messaging, this is story telling of a time long ago, but not forgotten.

If you like early music, before the folk, country, bluegrass, or any other label; this is the listen you’ve been waiting for.  Stories told, no frills, telling of tales with a simple yet compelling musical background.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]

Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys
“Release Your Shrouds”
www.lindsayloumusic.com

Lindsay Lou’s new production with The Flatbellys appears to have been born and bred in Michigan, but comes via PR with a local area code, so we’re just gonna have to own up to it, which after a listen, isn’t a bad thing at all.

The recording hits the ground running with “Hat’s Off”, a fun romp for sure.  Lindsay Lou is featured on guitar, claw-hammer banjo as well as vocals.  Lindsay’s other half, Joshua Rilko is the foundation and is heard on mandolin, lead and harmony vocals as well as writing.  Not quite sure if Joshua does all the writing on the disc, but if he does, his work is as brilliant as Lindsay’s vocal work.

The arrangements of the supporting players on each tune are perfectly constructed to all and each of her syllables to shine. The sophistication of the work on bass by Spencer Cain is brilliant, but he also takes up vocal work on the third track.  Mark Lavengood’s Dobro or resophonic guitar more than allows for Lou’s tasty vocal style to weave effortlessly throughout the tracks. Keith Billik rounds out the groups arrangements on banjo and vocals.  Andy Wilson is featured on trumpet.

Bluegrass is a bit of simplistic label for this work, it’s the frame work, for sure, but there are so many American influenced works contained in the tracks it almost seems limiting.  There are jazz influenced pieces as well as classical frameworks that tunes are hung on, which allows a versatility within, this is not one of the seamless bluegrass pieces, there’s much to study in the work.

There are shades of Billy Holiday as well as the Manhattan Transfer with their vocal arrangements, which would not happen if there were not top notch players setting rhythms that beat effortlessly.  Timing is the final member of this ensemble, which is the bottom line for the tracks.  It is essential to this work and allows the vocalist to effortlessly shine.

The third track is straight out of Dixieland and by the fourth track, the group flexes out of shades of blue grass with a lovely ballad that is defined by pure musicianship. “Pass Me The Whiskey” the fifth track jumps back into grass, but it’s not quite as blue as the previous.  The mandolin, Dobro, banjo and guitar scream their influence, but the vocal and arrangement also show another shade of blue.

“Wonderful You Are”, may be my favorite cut on the project as it takes aspects of the instrumentation it is known for, but make no mistake, this comes out of a jazz pocket.  The bass work alone is worth jumping up and down about, but again Lindsay’s vocal shines on this track.  Good stuff contained within, with a very sparse arrangement.  There is a virtuosity these players have honed that can not be denied and their arrangements and writing is cracking good.

All in all Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys is a great recording, production and fun to listen to.  This group is out there in the heartland supporting this recording and I would bet big money there will be more projects to follow this one. The country is poised and excepting now of this musical tradition, which is excellently executed, but more importantly it has a soul with a sense of humor.

[Christopher Brant Anderson ]

Jim Carr
“The Space Below”
www.reverbnation.com/jimcarr

Jim Carr is from Auburn, Alabama and has written a serious as well as beautiful piece of work called, “The Space Below”.  Carr plays a custom acoustic Johnny Rushing guitar that I would have sworn was mic-ed, but after talking with the artist came to find out was recorded direct with a LR Baggs pick up. In addition he plays electric guitars as well as a fat ESP 5-string bass as well as doing percussion within the tracks.  Carr co produced the work with Todd Zimmerman at Studio 139, Kalamazoo, Michigan and literally tracked at home and sent to Zimmerman for mix down.  Carr is supported on drums and percussion by Mike Curtis.  Curtis is a huge asset to the work, always complimenting, never taking away from Carr’s phrasing or notes.

“Nick’s Web” bounces out with a nice polished acoustic feel that is a bit like the rain out my window today, it just flows.  There is a warmth to the guitar and gentleness to the tune that draws the ear in,  never overpowering, but playful in it’s richness.  The bass and percussion add to this cut with a surety that adds to, never takes away from Carr’s facility on his instrument.  This is just a playful nice tune.  “ Solace” opens quietly with precision of a master player and then expands as the bass enters to a warm feel.  What I like now by the second cut is that Carr is not afraid of silence and uses it as another instrument to augment his work.  This is a rare treat these days of heavily laden material.

There is some comparison to other groups or players in the field of instrumental music or better phrased guitar based music on Carr’s PR sheet, but I think limiting.  There are influences I hear, which are not listed as well as an originality that can not be denied or compared with others.  Carr is a student of the instrument and the field he toils in, that is very evident in the listen of his work.  Jim Carr also loves the sound of the instrument; that is what is reflected the most.

The third track, “Mother” unfolds gently, incased with acoustic and electric guitar.  The bass work on this cut is very complementary to the vibe as is percussion.  “Child” again is beautifully crafted, but again what shines or sets up this tune is the sounds Carr creates with the bass.  Deep and wide; it ensconces the other instrumentation like a mother would hold a child.

“Three Paths Converged” breaks away from the rest of the pack with a bigger footprint.  This is the track that illuminates just how good and careful Mike Curtis is with Carr’s work.  Simply put, the tune is diverse in its depth and production, it’s a nice break from the mode Carr lays on the tracks prior to this one.  This is followed by the tender, “ I Burn For You”, which is played to the hilt on guitar, but again the bass work on this track allows that tenderness to unfold on the listener.  The tune takes some amazing turns and twists that are unexpected and Carr’s facility at his instrument is incredible.

“Planxty Irwin” is a playful tune full of wonder and exhilarated playing as Carr weaves many textures in this composition that work on many levels.   “Last of Three” and the final tune, “ Forgotten Things” round out a well thought out production that illuminates the study, work, production, care and feeding  of a fine guitarist.  This is one of the best projects I have had the pleasure to review.

[Christopher Brant Anderson] 

Bluegrass
The Kickin Grass Band
Walk With Me”
www.superfans.com/kickingrass

The group is out of Raleigh, North Carolina, the music is straight a head bluegrass the bounds with endless energy, great arrangement and beautiful vocals.  The product was written by Lynda Dawson, who also is their main vocalist, as well as their fiddle player, Pattie Hopkins and the group’s  banjo player, Hank Smith.  This is bluegrass based for sure, but here is also a dash of folk or Americana that the group exploits with their vocal arrangements.

Most of the tunes are dealing with the human condition and of course love.  After reading their PR
it’s no wonder that the group uses the spirit of good times and horrendous losses in life to fill this unique mixture of tunes.  They have been traveling some hard roads collectively and individually over the past few years, but the muse of their craft was not lost on these souls, and it is captured wonderfully in the tracks.

The arrangements of vocal harmonies and instruments creates a delicate balance, which illuminates not only their collective souls, but musicianship.  These players were understood and in good hands with producer Jerry Brown at the Rubber Room, in Raleigh, though the players also are credited for co-producing.   The band is, Jamie Dawson on mandolin, Pattie Hopkins on fiddle, Hank Smith on banjo and Patrick Walsh keeps them all honest on bass.  Jerry Brown assists on guitar, Andrew Marlin plays wonderful Hammond B3 on “ The Filling Station” and Ben Walters plays adds guitar on “ Everything And Everyone”.

The production and mix are a huge component of this work. Much care and feeding was given to all the tracks.  The vocals are tight and the musicianship is beyond apparent.  The deeper I got into the project/listening, it’s easy to hear the wide influence these musicians bring individually and personally to their collective table.  This listen is a very pleasant and authentic snap shot of the past and the present within and without .  The writers are spot on with their lyrical ability to convey a huge array of emotions found in the best and worst of times.

This is an excellent bluegrass project that captures more than that simplistic label can convey.

[Christopher Brant Anderson]