The folk music world has always been known for its collection of eccentric personalities, but few folk musicians are more deranged than Peter Stampfel and Baby Gramps. Stampfel's known, of course, as one of the Holy Modal Rounders, a seminal psychedelic folk duo that somehow managed to turn the most mundane of American folk songs into otherworldly trips of the mind. Baby Gramps is a beloved folk music figure in the Northwest and beyond, renowned not only for his huge knowledge of old vaudeville and hokum blues songs, but also for his long, rambling versions of these same songs and his ability to naturally work throat singing into the idiom. Plus his scrotum song has to be heard (and seen) to be believed. Individually, both Stampfel and Gramps have spotty outputs. They're truly best live, and this doesn't always translate to great albums for listening. They're always creative and fascinating, of course, but some of their albums seem a bit too helter-skelter. But somehow bringing these two scatter-brain geniuses together has enabled them to balance each other out, and their 2010 duet album, Outertainment, is a wonderfully insane romp through the trash-strewn back alleys of Americana. It works great, with Gramps gravelly voice switching off with Stampfel's nearly indescribable vocals, and their always-on-the-edge picking somehow teeters along the edge of total collapse without ever falling, kinda like a drunken kung fu master.

Together, Gramps & Stampfel revel in a dumpster-diving collection of the gross and bizarre. "Bar Bar" is a merry little ditty about getting drunk at bars and starting fights, then barfing everywhere, and "The Puppy Song" is a great folk number about the rather disgusting things puppies get up to, and how cute it is. These are the songs they've written, but they've also sourced songs from pretty interesting places. The truly wonderful vaudeville delight "Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga" came to Stampfel from "Leave it to Beaver," evidently. Other songs come to them from Grandpa Jones, a killer sea chanty comes from Laurence Welk, surprisingly, and they've even got an evil cover of "Heigh Ho" from Disney's Snow White. Yow! There's even a crazy version of the all-time classic "Surfin' Bird."

Stampfel and Gramps' duet album is a like a cabinet of curiosities. It's just chock full of strange discoveries and bizarre little oddities. But with characters this interesting, you just can't look away (or stop listening in this case). It's a helluva lot of fun to poke around the dusty cupboards of these guys' brains. This is definitely fractured folk music of the highest order!

Peter Stampfel & Baby Gramps: The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga


Peter Stampfel & Baby Gramps: Buzzard on the Gut Wagon

 

I've been asked recently to write reviews for various publications and sometimes asked to limit myself to 150 words. This is not easy. It's quite hard to tell an album's story in such a small space. But it's also great practice for keeping my writing brief and readable. So I'm debuting a new blog type here: 150 Word Reviews of some of the artists we've been listening to. It's a quick way to find new music, so help us spread the word!
 

Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile: The Goat Rodeo Sessions

I may be strange, but as a fiddle nerd, it was Stuart Duncan's name that made me buy this album in Starbucks. Sure, Yo-Yo Ma's the most famous cellist in the world, and Chris Thile redefined the mandolin much like a young Bill Monroe once did, and Edgar Meyer's a bass God. We know all that. But Stuart Duncan is one of the best American roots fiddlers alive. I love him because he slips between bluegrass and old-time fiddle effortlessly, and can fiddle anything else under the sun. This album is a great listen, an essential part of the new wave of "chamber folk" music. The tunes are half-composed, half-improvised, and sound like a perfectly balanced blend between folk and classical music. Only these artists could pull it off, and it's a great sound. Don't expect covers of old folk songs, but do expect to enjoy this listening experience.
 

BUY THIS ON AMAZON

Windy Hill. Let's Go to the Fair.
2011. self-released.

I'm always on the look out for the new bluegrass music that harkens back to the classic days of the genre's formation. The sound that Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs birthed in the American South in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I'm not looking for a stale recreation, but that kind of red-hot, fire-in-the-belly picking and keening harmonies that made the old classics so perfect. Impossibly young bluegrass band Windy Hill have this in spades on their new album, Let's Go to the Fair. Their music fairly crackles with hot picking and burning fiddling, and their harmonies are deadly accurate. Somehow they manage to make the music sound entirely new without compromising the smallest smidgeon of respect for the true tradition. This isn't bluegrass handled with delicacy, it's a blazing brand of bluegrass pulled forth from the fire with cool iron tongs.

Windy Hill: I'm Leaving Town
(Two Notes: 1) They wrote this song, and 2) Good goddamn that is a hot fiddle solo opening this track!)

At First Light. Idir.

Though I'm a longtime fan of Irish traditional music, I've never been too familiar with the Northern Irish traditions. So I'm thankful that At First Light have been presenting their beautiful Ulster music to world audiences. On their new album, Idir, the core trio of uilleann piper/tin whistler John McSherry, fiddler Donal O'Connor and multi-instrumentalist Francis McIlduff are joined also by the beautiful singer Ciara McCrickard. If they sound a bit like Irish super-group Lunasa, that may be because McSherry was a founding member. In fact, McSherry's got to be the busiest uilleann piper around! In addition to a recent solo album and an album with Bob Brozman, he also released an EP with Bellingham, WA songwriter Robert Sarazin Blake (that we helped promote). On Idir, tunes and songs rush together like a babbling Irish brook, and you can easily imagine yourself in a Belfast pub, enjoying truly beautiful music.

At First Light: Ar Thóir na Donn

Dana Falconberry. Though I Didn't Call It Came.
2012. Crossbill Records.

I met Dana Falconberry a few months ago when she was touring with my favorite indie-roots artist, Matt Bauer. I hadn't realized then that not only is she a respected member of the Austin, TX music scene (no small feat), but she's also got her own intriguing projects. On her new EP, Though I Didn't Call It Came, released on Crossbill Records, her music is as delicate as a deep-sea diatom. Carefully performed, beautifully arranged, this is the kind of hand-made music that's almost a family heirloom. Woven vocal harmonies, softly plucked strings, a cracked patina voice; it's beautiful and fascinating and something you'd like to keep to yourself rather than share around. At four tracks and fifteen minutes, it's a tiny vignette EP that's hopefully a preview of more to come.

Dana Falconberry: Petoskey Stone

We're pleased to welcome back guest blogger Dr. Squeeze with reviews of two amazing Irish trad albums. Sorry we didn't get to these earlier, but it's not like this music is going to get stale. It's still gonna be great even five or ten years from now. So slap on your headphones and have a read-through! Thanks to Dr. Squeeze for the guest blog.

Two Irish Trad Albums Reviewed
Guest Blog by Dr. Squeeze
 
Danny O'Mahony. In Retrospect.
2011. self-released.

I just got my hands on the recently released first CD of master Irish button box player Danny O’Mahony and it’s like a breath of fresh air. The album was released in May 2011 after many years of Danny saying he wouldn’t make a CD – thank goodness he changed his mind. Here we have a master box player, several times All-Ireland champ, playing straight up classics with flawless technique on priceless vintage accordions. Danny comes from Ballyduff in North County Kerry and earned a performance degree from University of Limerick. He has toured throughout Europe, North America and Australia and has a weekly radio show, ‘Trip to the Cottage’, which features Irish Traditional Music and Song on Radio Kerry. He also performs with the Shannon Vale Ceili Band who won the 2011 All Ireland Band title. On this his first CD, he is joined by some good friends and great performers such as Cyril O’Donoghue on bouzouki, Patsy Broderick on Piano and Johnny McDonagh on Bodhrán and Bones, but it’s really the accordion that dominates here and what a beautiful sound!

Danny plays three different accordions on the recording: a 1940’s vintage grey 3 voice B/C Paolo Soprani, another 1940’s grey 3 voice Paolo Soprani in D/D#, and finally the Ioria 6 voice D/C# box of the late great Tom Carmody from the 1930’s. The Ioria was bequeathed to Danny by Tom’s widow and Danny is presently doing research on the life and music of Tom Carmody and The James Morrison Band that dominated recordings of Irish Music in New York in the 1930’s. In Retrospect takes us back to those days of early Irish music in New York, with a faithful reproduction of the sound and the tunes. Custy’s Traditional Music Shop in Ennis says: “This album rates up there as one of the best accordion releases over the last ten years”. Definitely.


Danny O'Mahony: An Pointe/Cronin's/Come West Along the Road

 
Danny's Website (only way to purchase the album)

Excellent Video on Comhaltas
 

As an added treat: here's a great video of Danny and Micheál Ó Raghallaigh together on box and concertina. Enjoy!

The Innisfree Ceili Band. Music of North Connacht.
2009. self-released.

When the folks at Hearth Music asked me if I would like to review the new CD by the Innisfree Ceili Band, I jumped right unto it. I am always interested in anything that involves accordions and I am also a member of the Shilshole Bay Ceili Band here in Seattle. Not only does the Innisfree Ceili Band boast two accordion players, both button and piano, but they also have four flute players, three fiddlers, a piano player and a drummer. One of the fiddlers, Oisín Mac Diarmada is already well known as the founder of the Irish Christmas in America show and a member of the famed Irish group Téada. The Irish Times praised them for « keeping the traditional flag flying at full mast » and the Innisfree Ceili Band carries on the tradition. All the players in the group grew up playing together in the North Connacht region of Ireland and represent the styles of Sligo, Leitrim, and Roscommon. Following in the footsteps of the great Ceili Bands of yore, such as the Tulla and the Kilfenora, the Innisfree Ceili Band plays with the smoothness and drive of a great dance band.

The word ‘Ceili’ in Gaelic means a social gathering or a party. In the early days, most Ceilis hosted singing, dancing, and story telling. Ceili dances became popular after the Public Dance Halls Act in 1935, passed to discourage the wild house parties and crossroads dances, replacing them with licensed, regulated and government-controlled dances in larger venues that could afford the license fees. This led to larger dance bands in a more formal setting, often dressed in suits or tuxedos and hiring drummers, pianists, and even saxophone players. The glory days were in the 40’s and 50’s, then declined with the new ‘Seisîuns’ involving smaller groups in pubs, playing for their own enjoyment or as background music to drinking your Guinness. The Innisfree Ceili Band is helping to bring back the tradition of the old Ceili Bands and were the winners of the 2008 All Ireland Ceili Band Competition.

Sit back and listen to this collection of jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, and marches. This is music that will set your toes tapping and lead you to the dance. Their blend of flutes, fiddles, accordion, piano and drum set is seamless and flows like a well-oiled dance machine. You will hear some great tunes handed down from legendary musicians such as Michael Coleman, Father Charlie Cohen, Michael Gorman, James Morrison, Paddy Kiloran, and Denis Murphy. And the dance goes on…..

Innisfree Ceili Band: The Real Blackthorn Stick/Trim the Velvet

  

2011 was an intense year in music. There were so many great albums released and so many critics, reviewers and journalists working their asses off to keep up with everything. I tried to be part of this, writing as many reviews and articles as I could squeeze into my schedule, but I fell behind and I feel bad that I wasn't able to write about all the artists that I felt deserved to be covered. So here's my last-ditch effort to make amends by writing about 10 Albums I Totally Should Have Blogged About in 2011 (in no particular order):

Joy Kills Sorrow: This Unknown Science.
2011. Signature Sounds.

I feel extra bad about this one, since Joy Kills Sorrow's new album, This Unknown Science, is their most advanced release yet. They're still a stringband at heart, but the arrangements are channeling a new pop sensibility with remarkable acumen. All of the musicians in the band are virtuosos, and as a whole their arrangements are stunningly intricate and creative. There's been a big push in the chamber-folk world this year, with releases from Noam Pikelny, Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile, and Joy Kills Sorrow deserve to be right at the top of this heap. Their last album, Darkness Becomes the City, sounds like a great album from a bunch of precocious youngsters coming out of Boston's crazy-talented roots music scene. With This Unknown Science, the gang have grown up and have grown into a sound that embraces the handmade intricacy of indie bands like Fleet Foxes, without losing sight of their roots in folk traditions.

I've said before and will say again that Emma Beaton's powerhouse vocals are still the heart and soul of the band, but listening to the new album, I'm also struck by the songwriting of Bridget Kearny, who writes or co-writes all but one of the songs on the album. Her lyrics are somehow overly confident and endearingly insecure. It's a charming combination that makes for some sexy, and sassy, and sometimes sensitive songs. Instrumentally, the band is top-notch, and the interplay between Wes Corbett's complex banjo lines and Jacob Jolliff's frenetic mandolin is also a major highlight. Throughout the whole album, Emma Beaton's voice carries and defines the band. At turns soaring and powerful, or soft and deeply sensitive, her vocal range (not just in terms of octaves, but in terms of artistic sensibility) is astounding. This is a masterful album from a masterful band, and if you've been sleeping on Joy Kills Sorrow, now it's time to wake up!

Joy Kills Sorrow: Reservations

Charlie Parr: When the Devil Goes Blind.
2010/2011. Nero's Neptune Records.

Recently, I've had to suffer through some pretty whitey-white renditions of country blues, plus books that talk endlessly about the crossroads, and how you have to have the blues to play the blues. Yech. Thing is, the blues is about more than just feeling bad and putting on your walking shoes. It's also about kicking ass. The mellower side of country blues always comes to mind when I think about Mississippi John Hurt, but most of the country blues was rough-and-tumble juke joint music from experienced traveling musicians. It was drinking and dancing music, something that belonged to the unwashed masses. The blues singers who focus on the blues stereotypes cultivated by detached white scholars miss out on the real heart of the blues. Charlie Parr isn't one of them. His blues is eerie, hair-raising, other-worldly. The kind of sound that made those old scratchy 78s so compelling. Parr's driven by something so deep inside and so universal that his blues makes us stand up and listen immediately. It helps too that he knows the traditions so well. It means that the songs he writes are almost totally indistinguishable from the traditional songs on his album. I figured all the songs on his new album, When the Devil Goes Blind, were traditional on first listening, but turns out only two of the eleven tracks are trad. And there are some real new classics here that I hope will start passing into the folk tradition, like the beautiful gospel blues "Where You Gonna Be (When the Good Lord Calls You Home)," or the train-hopping ditty "I Dreamed I Saw Jesse James Last Night." But honestly this entire album is worth it for the utterly shocking cover of "Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down." Starting off a cappella, this is the kind of song that sounds like an echo from the grave. It will send a chill down your spine. Turns out Parr has covered this song a couple times on various albums, but this is unquestionably the best version. Wow. I mean really WOW.

Parr's been incredibly prolific recently. I can't even keep track of which of his albums came out when, and I think this album is actually from 2010. He's been collaborating with alt-stringband The Black Twig Pickers, and previews of his upcoming 2012 album are quite promising. But I'd wager that When the Devil Goes Blind is the perfect album to get to know his music. So start here!

 
Charlie Parr: Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down

Charlie Sizemore: Heartache Looking for a Home.
2011. Rounder Records.

There seems to be a divide in modern bluegrass between the deeper country side that harkens to the Monroe/Stanley/Flatt/Scruggs foundation with a strong tendency towards Nashville country, and the chamber-grass virtuosity of Thile/Punch Bros etc. Sometimes I think of this as a red state/blue state divide, or a North/South divide, but that's quite the oversimplification. Whatever the case, bluegrass veteran Charlie Sizemore's new album is a delicious slice of country bluegrass (maybe "countrygrass"?), delightful in the way he takes a Nashville sound and blends it with the pure drop tradition he learned growing up as one of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys (Sizemore replaced Keith Whitely in 1977 at the tender age of 17!). Heartache Looking for a Home is polished, and though I usually shy away from this kind of polish, Sizemore's got such a great gift for choosing cool songs, and his band is so hot, that you won't be able to resist humming along and having a great time. Standout tracks include a gorgeous duet with Ralph Stanley on the forbidding "Red Wicked Wine", a pretty hilarious send-up "No Lawyers in Heaven" (funnier when you know that he's actually a lawyer himself), and the title track "Heartache Looking for a Home," which is the best country song I've heard since Zoe Muth's "If I Can't Trust You with a Quarter." What's extra nice is that Sizemore's got the skill and taste to be able to nail traditional bluegrass as well. "Red Wicked Wine" works both as a hard-drinking country ballad and as a bluegrass song that Ralph woulda sung in his prime. Traditional songs like "Poor Rambler" and "Gone to Georgia" even have an old-timey feel to them, with a bit of clawhammer banjo thrown in.

If you've been despairing about the modern state of bluegrass today, this album will remind you just how far you can go with great taste and amazing chops. It's a helluva lot of fun to listen to and I can imagine Charlie Sizemore must have had a blast making it. Well done!
 
Charlie Sizemore feat. Ralph Stanley: Red Wicked Wine

 

Ben Fisher: Heavy Boots & Underwood.
2011. self-released.

Ok, I feel really bad about this one. Not only did Ben Fisher manage to take his work as a pro busker (super powerful voice, engaging stage presence, and kickass street cred) and spin that into a love affair with Seattle's indie press, but he's also the genuinely nicest guy around. Plus all my blogging buddies were writing about him, so the least I could'a done was send some good words his way. Sorry, Ben!

On his new album, Heavy Boots & Underwoods, Seattle busker king Ben Fisher puts all his cards on the table. He's refreshingly honest, and not afraid to stand simply behind his voice and his guitar, an admirable trait. As he sings on the opening song, "Thunderbird," "I'm giving away everything/I'm starting anew/Look out for my rings and strings/I'll come back for them soon." You get the impression that he really is so dedicated to his music that he'd give up pretty much anything for it. But more than an honest bard, Fisher is a great storyteller, not only able to weave narrative into his music, but also able to weave a sense of place into his songs. His music practically drips with Northwest rain, and his ode to the humble Ballard locks ("Hiram M. Chittenden") brings back some of my best memories of living in Seattle. Maybe that's his talent as a busker shining through; his ability to grab your attention with a great story, familiar memories and a twist of words. Whatever the case, we're not the only ones appreciating Ben's music these days. Though he's confessed that he's used to playing for a handful of strangers on the street, he's now playing in-studios for the likes of KEXP and Daytrotter, and getting coverage on great blogs like our friends Sound on the Sound, SSG Music, and Common Folk Music. He's definitely a talent to watch in 2012 and I predict his next album will be big!

Ben Fisher: Thunderbird


BUY Ben's album Heavy Boots & Underwoods on BANDCAMP



T-Model Ford and GravelRoad. Taledragger.
2011. Alive Records.

I've been a fan of T-Model Ford's down-and-dirty Mississippi hill country blues for a while now, but his new album, Taledrigger, with his Seattle-based backing band GravelRoad is easily the best one yet. GravelRoad not only round out Ford's rough edges, they also add a layer of psychedelic blues to his music that makes it all incredibly compelling. Ford and GravelRoad've played together before, and on record, but this is the first time they've really gelled perfectly. The tracks buzz with Mississippi heat, and growl along like a runaway train. This is the kind of blues I can listen to all day long. Somehow they've even found a killer horn section, and when the brass kicks in on the second track "I'm Coming Home," well look out!

T-Model Ford's quite popular these days, which is great. Sure, he traffics in a pretty old image of the violent, drunken bluesman, but I like to think there's an element of irony there. And beyond that, he's got such a great raw style with Mississippi blues that he's always a lot of fun to listen to. If you've given up on the blues recently, or if you tend to listen to the Black Keys more than Son House, give this record a listen. It will renew your love of the grittier side of the blues.

T-Model Ford: I'm Coming Home

Noam Pikelny. Beat the Devil and Carry A Rail.
2011. Compass Records.

So I know everyone and their dog have written about Noam Pikelny's new album, Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail, and with good reason. Not only does he have the chops of one of the best modern banjo players, coming out of Chris Thile's Punch Brothers, but he also nailed the coolest viral marketing campaign I've yet to see in bluegrass. His Funny or Die video with Steve Martin is a must watch, and I'll live in constant jealousy of Compass Records' PR coup: a New Yorker cartoon of the album. And yeah, the album's a fun romp through today's chambergrass sounds, maybe not as classically oriented as the much-buzzed about Goat Rodeo album from Thile/Yo-Yo Ma/Stuart Duncan/Edgar Meyer, and that's kind of the nice point about the album. A good number of the tunes on the album are original, but Pikelny's also got some great old-time numbers here. Not "Cluck Old Hen," which is a rather tired old chestnut (though Pikelny's brass-balls cover goes a long way to redeeming the tune), but I'm thinking speifically of the excellent old-time song "Bob McKinney" (with Tim O'Brien on vocals!) and a great version of Art Stamper's "Piney Woods" featuring Stuart Duncan on bluegrass fiddle. Part of the reason the album's so listenable is thanks to Pikelny's insanely hot backing band, including Jerry Douglas, David Grier, Mike Compton, Tim O'Brien, Stuart Duncan and lots more! Ultimately, it's this same listenability that's the album's only downside. It's a bit "composed" at times, meaning that tunes don't really stick in your head or carry you along all the way. So while it's not necessarily a great album for intense listening and copping banjo licks, it's a great album for listening on a warm summer day while working in the garden. Oh how I miss those warm summer days...

Noam Pikelny feat. Tim O'Brien: Bob McKinney

 

Gregory Paul. Two Albums! The Fremont Abbey Session and Lonesome Valley.
2011. self-released.

Seattle busker Gregory Paul has had quite the prolific year, releasing three albums in the last six months of 2011. Two of these albums (the third is straight old-time banjo) are beautiful renditions of original and traditional music, drawing from old-time and early country traditions, but also spinning out into intriguing directions in indie roots music.

The Fremont Abbey is a beautiful venue in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. It's a refurbished old church, and the natural resonance of the venue is one of the hallmarks of its sound. Greg plays to this resonance in the echoey, sparse album The Fremont Abbey Session. Made up mostly of original material, the songs are quite beautiful, and channel some of the darker corners of the old-time Appalachian music that's long been an inspiration to Greg. He plays guitar, banjo and bowed banjo on the songs, and is joined by Holly Merrill on vocals and piano. I don't think I really get all of Greg's songs, but they're so intriguing that I want to. I want to understand more about his songwriting and his artistry and why his music is so deeply haunting to me on this album, and so I listen harder each time and get drawn deeper and deeper in. PS: The closing track on this album is a fascinating cover of Erik Satie's "First Gnossienne" with piano and bowed banjo!

Greg's second album, Lonesome Valley, is a duet with another well-known Seattle busker, Annie Ford. Annie used to play with Slimpickins, a great street folk band that also included Gill Landry's brother Jake Landry. Together, Annie and Greg cover some of the chesnuts of the old-time tradition, but bring a stunning new sound to them. Their harmonies on "Rain and Snow" totally redefined the song for me, and..   Usually I like my old-time fiddlers to be closely tied to the tradition, but I like that Annie Ford has such disparate ideas in her fiddling. Sometimes she sounds like an eerie Swedish fiddler, other times a dusty jug band fiddler, and sometimes a Blue Ridge Mountain fiddler. It gives the album a diverse feeling and really draws the listener in. This album is rough as hell, which is half the fun. I love that there's so many great ideas in this album, hidden under a layer of rough-hewn handcrafted music.

Gregory Paul: The Day We Met (from The Fremont Abbey Session)


Gregory Paul & Annie Ford: Rain & Snow (from Lonesome Valley)

 
BUY The Fremont Abbey Session on BANDCAMP

BUY Lonesome Valley on BANDCAMP

Leroy Lytel: Swarm of Doves.
2011. self-released.

It took me forever to figure out who Leroy Lytel is and in fact I'm still not too sure. My original blog post on his album was going to be titled "Who the Hell is Leroy Lytel," but just before publishing the blog he managed to get up a website and some basic info (like the fact he lives in New York). Prior to that, all I'd had to go on was a one-sleeve CD album sent to me from an address that I promptly lost. Heck, even now that he has a website up, there still isn't a photo of him available anywhere. Whoever Leroy Lytel is, though, he managed to secretly put out one of the best indie-folk albums of 2011.

Based around Leroy's soft guitar picking and slightly ethereal vocals, the album unfolds like a gently waving field of grass, which curiously is the only picture he has up on his Facebook profile. It's clearly part of a larger indie roots music scene, but he veers away from the softly rambling themes of Iron & Wine, or the dense arrangements of The Head and the Heart, instead making a simple batch of beautifully written songs with easy to understand structures. It's totally accessible, and surprisingly masterful for someone so new to the scene. The title song, which opens the album, is a great little earworm that feels gently hopeful, like the first moments of an infatuation. Songs like "Flat World Blues" or "Lord of the Flies" sound almost like a redux of Mississippi John Hurt, channeling his gentle care in songwriting and guitar playing. What I love most about the album, though, are Leroy's gentle turns of phrases in his lyrics. Like the opening line for Her Eyes: "Walking around with my head to the ground/looking for answers we've already found./My hands in my pockets are the only thing holding me down./I don't talk much/sure could use the sound." Throughout Swarm of Doves, Leroy's deftly sincere songwriting and sweet melodies helps this album rise above the stacks of other worthy CDs on my desk.

Leroy Lytel: Swarm of Doves

 
Danbert Nobacon & The Bad Things. Woebegone.
2010. Verbal Burlesque Records.

Ok this one is technically from late 2010, but I've just gotta include it. Danbert Nobacon is one of the crazy British anarchists that formed folk-pop icons Chumbawamba back in the 90s. You'll remember them from their insanely catchy "Tubthumping": (I get knocked down/but I get up again... You're never gonna keep me down). I always thought of this as a pop song, since I first saw it on MTV as a teenager. But Nobacon and the Chumbawamba crew came out of Britain's anarcho-punk underground and were serious counter-culture heads. Nobacon is famous for pouring a jug of ice water on the British prime minister's head during a state dinner. My kinda guy! Anyways, after leaving Chumbawamba he eventually moved to the picturesque and isolated little town of Twist in Eastern Washington. He was signed to Bloodshot Records for a while, but his most recent album is a self-released little wonder with Northwest cabaret-punks The Bad Things. Titled Woebegone, it's a romping mashup of Tom-Waits-style cabaret riffs with the edge and snarl of an aging punk rocker. You'll like it for sure if you like Tom Waits, but it's a lot of fun even if you're unfamiliar with that kind of music. It's rough and raw and angry and funny all at the same time. There's something compelling about Nobacon's gravelly voice and working-class British accent, and he delivers a host of interesting vignettes with this album. Kudos to The Bad Things, who bring a foundational structure to the album that lets Nobacon do his thing with great support.
 
Danbert Nobacon & The Bad Things: Other Country Blues

Thanks to MJ Turner of the Oregon Bluegrass Association and bassist for Portland's Barnyard Ruckus for this special guest review of Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen!

Frank Solivan's Dirty Kitchen

by MJ Turner

I first met the members of Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen at the Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley, CA in June of 2010. This was one happening week. The best part about it, at least for me, is that CBA (California Bluegrass Association) hosts a camp 3 days before the festival and the headliners teach the classes, camp with, jam with and hang out with the campers. This particular year as you might guess, Frank and his boys were headliners. By the end of camp, classes, staff/band performances and lots of all night jamming with them, it was abundantly clear that we were being taught by and playing with an immensely talented emerging bluegrass group.

If you have ever had the privilege of seeing Frank live, you have seen that he thoroughly throws all his heart, soul and passion into every song. Now, if you ever have the good fortune of being invited to a personal house concert, where Frank and the boys cook you dinner, schmooze with you while cooking, and then give you an “in your face” concert, do whatever it takes to get there! Frank is known for his gourmet cooking and seems to love preparing as much as performing. I have heard several people ask him if he leaves the kitchens at these house concerts really dirty and is that where he came up with the name. He just looks up and grins saying, naw, I just love getting down and dirty in the kitchen!

The band’s newest member, Dan Booth was my bass workshop instructor last year at camp. He is incredibly talented on several instruments and has a wicked lonesome voice. Dan is an asset to any band in every way; Frank, you got lucky dude! He is also a great teacher that has taught and encouraged me tremendously. His mentoring and support helped me get started in writing a dozen songs this year and helped me to be a valuable member in a really good bluegrass band. If you ever get a chance to take a bass workshop with him, don’t pass it up. The band’s “flat picker” extraordinaire is Lincoln Meyers. Mike Munford, holy smoking moly on the banjo, is just plain awesome.

O.K. So I was asked to actually write a bit about the DK CD. I have literally played mine to death, yet it still lives! As a matter of fact, last year driving to Wintergrass from Vancouver, a blizzard set in and it was a white out for over two hours. I saw 5 wrecks in 5 minutes in Chehalis alone. I happened to be listening to my DK CD when the storm hit. It ended up playing over and over cause I was so freaked out by the weather I was afraid to take my hands off the wheel. I guess it was an omen, cause that night quite unexpectedly, Frank showed up in the OBA (Oregon Bluegrass Association) suite. He had flown in to surprise his father Frank Sr. (a really sweet guy that has mentored and supported many children for years, heading up the “Kids on Bluegrass” in CA.) We all had a great time jamming with him throughout the weekend. The whole CD is a driving force that grabs your bluegrass soul from the first song to the last.

Don’t miss the opportunity to pick up this great CD at the festival and say hello and get to know these guys. This newly planted Pacific NW bluegrass gal is excited to have Dirty Kitchen here in our neck of the woods and proud to call them my friends.

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen: Tarred & Feathered 

 
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen: Paul and Silas

In honor of the upcoming Seattle Folk Festival, we'll be profiling artists on the Hearth Music blog. These profiles will be a great way to get to know the artists and to listen to and discover their music.

Seattle Folk Festival

December 9-11, 2011

Columbia City Theater, Town Hall Seattle, and more!

www.seattlefolkfestival.com

Featuring Bryan John Appleby, Riley Baugus & Kirk Sutphin, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Anna & Elizabeth, Laura Love & Orville Johnson, Kevin Murphy of the Moondoggies, Sons of Warren Oates, Youth Rescue Mission, Pharis & Jason Romero, Jackstraw, The Tallboys, Northern Departure, Brother Bear, Sean Flinn & The Royal We, The Canote Brothers, Ben Fisher, Goldfinch, Annie Ford & Gregory Paul, Alina Hardin

I've been impatiently awaiting a new album from Canadian roots music artist Michael Jerome Browne for quite a while now. The last album of his that I have, Michael Jerome Browne & The Twin Rivers String Band, is one of my favorite roots albums, with gorgeous picking and singing with powerful cuts of old-time, blues, honky-tonk and Cajun songs. Having just received his new album, The Road is Dark (out now on Borealis Records), and having listened to it now twice in a row without stopping, this was definitely worth the wait! 

Browne may not be too well known in the States–though he was born in Indiana, Montreal is his adopted home–but he should be. He's one of those rare musicians who have the artistry to transform traditional material that would sound old and tired in another's hands into something so refreshing that it feels like you're hearing the song for the first time. Browne nails this right out the gate with a surprising cover of the 1949 Flatt & Scruggs Mercury Records classic "Doin' My Time." This song was always one of the funkiest, blusiest bluegrass numbers around, so it makes perfect sense when Browne takes it into a deep Delta blues setting. It's a bold move to cast a classic of the bluegrass canon as country blues, but it's a sign of Browne's familiarity and comfort with American roots music. He's done this before on previous albums, effortlessly blending country blues, Appalachian old-time and even some killer Cajun music, and though The Road is Dark is primarily blues-based, the reason the album sounds so rich and effortless is because he's got so much knowledge and appreciation of the roots of the music he plays. On "Death Don't Have No Mercy," Browne takes a Rev. Gary Davis song into darker, eerier territory by channeling the influences of Skip James and Lightnin' Hopkins.

What's even more impressive than these re-imaginings of country blues, are Browne's original songs, which are sprinkled throughout the album. He writes so well and so cleanly, that it's pretty much impossible to tell the original songs from the traditional ones. Though some of the original veer away from the universality of blues lyrics towards more topical matters, this is an asset to the album. His "G20 Rag" is a welcome addition to any political songbook:

"caught the midnight train to Hogton
I went to have my say
'bout the way the rich keep gettin' richer
and the way the poor folks pay

up above the barricade
inside the penthouse suite
twenty future CEOs
raised a glass to the elite

and when the streets were empty
when we're all in jail
our leaders smiled and said 'you see?
democracy can't fail!' "

One of the strongest moments in the album comes right after the "G20 Rag" with Browne's spare and hair-raising song "Sing Low." Accompanied by Rwandan guitarist Mighty Popo and a finger-plucked gourd banjo, Browne's song is ostensibly an homage to Afghan women, drawing a comparison to African-American slaves, who used song to communicate with less fear of reprisal. On any other artist, a heavy-handed blues homage to the cultural complexities of the Afghan nation would be unbearable, but Browne's song is so deftly written and his rendition so subtle and rich, that he manages to convey the intended power to the song.

This is a great album, not only a delight to connoisseurs of American roots music for the way that Michael Jerome Browne reinterprets and subverts old blues paradigms, but also a delight for those just looking for some great acoustic blues. It's eminently listenable from start to finish and will likely enjoy a long shelf-life on repeat in your collection.

Michael Jerome Browne: G20 Rag



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