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.

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 ]

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]