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



BUY THE ALBUM 
BUY THE ALBUM ON ITUNES

I just got this email from Compass Records:
http://bit.ly/tL2HQv

They've got select overstock albums on sale for $FIVE DOLLARS from Now until October 31. You still have to pay shipping, I think, but this is pretty great. Since Compass now owns Green Linnet records (the powerhouse Celtic label of the 80s and 90s), they have some SEMINAL albums that I would really recommend you buy if you don't have them already:

Celtic Fiddle Festival: Encore

The original lineup of Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaitre (Brittany) and Johnny Cunningham (Scotland). Classic.


Donna Long & Brendan Mulvihill - The Morning Dew

This album changed my life. Best album of Irish music I HAVE. EVER. HEARD.


Dervish - Live in Palma (2 Disk)

My favorite Irish band. This is a live 2-CD set, but 2 CDs for 5 bucks is pretty awesome.

Gerry O'Connor - Myriad

Great intro to the Irish tenor banjo tradition. Gerry O'Connor is pretty amazing. A bit poppy, but a great album.
 

James Keane - That's The Spirit

Great intro to the Irish button accordion. Raw trad, but masterfully done.

Kate Rusby - The Girl Who Couldn't Fly

Dead brilliant classic album of British trad. Jeez, Kate Rusby for $5? Yes please!

Kevin Burke - Portland

A true classic, this album of Irish fiddle Kevin Burke and the late accompanist/singer Micheal O Domhnaill is a must-have.

Kevin Burke and Open House - Second Story

Sligo Irish fiddle legend Kevin Burke's made his home in Portland for decades, and his NW band Open House was a wonderful blend of West Coast sounds, from klezmer to old-time to Mark Graham's funny songs and Sandy Silva's inspiring dancing.Pure classic must-have.

Kevin Crawford - In Good Company

Irish fluter Kevin Crawford is known for his work with super-group Lunasa, but this album is straight up trad, and the best you can get. It also features an ultra-rare appearance from fiddler Tony Linnane, one of my most favorites. Oh man, and Frankie Gavin kills it on a track here.


Kornog - Premiere

The band that put the eerie melodies of French Brittany on the Celtic map. Classic.

Kris Drever - Black Water

Orkney singer Kris Drever turns out top-flight albums that never seem to make it to the US. This is a rare chance to catch him at his best. Wonderful songs here.

Lunasa - The Kinnitty Sessions

Damn, yo! Lunasa is hands-down one of the best Irish trad bands. They've also been a huge influence on pretty much everyone else. This isn't their best album, per se, but if you don't have it, you need it!

Mick McAuley & Winifred Horan - Serenade

Not strict trad, that's for sure, but no one can fault these two master artists from Solas and how much fun they have on this great album.

Moving Cloud - Moving Cloud AND Foxglove

One of my favorite little-known Irish trad bands. Part of what makes them great is the absolutely stunning fiddling of Maeve Donnelly. She's a back-room brawler of a fiddler, all punch and spit. Love her playing! The other part that makes them great is their old-school dance sound, too rare in today's ultra-slick Irish trad world.

Oisin McAuley - Far From The Hills of Donegal

Dang, I don't have this, but I'm getting it! The Donegal fiddle style is punchier and more rhythmic than any other Irish fiddle style. Great stuff, and not only does this album from Danu's fiddler have great Donegal tunes, but more eclectic fare as well.

Sharon Shannon Albums!!

Dang, they have like every Sharon Shannon album up for $5. She's one of the best living Irish accordionists, but I love her for her gentle, subtle, and briliant Clare style of playing. Sure she's fun when she plays super fast and sings weird, unusual pop songs, but damn when she hits the trad Clare style with Mary Custy on fiddle.... Swooon....

Sharon Shannon/Frankie Gavin/Michael McGoldrick - Tunes

Oh, this album is awesome. This album is so powerful, they should tile the space shuttles with extra copies. Three of the best players ever to play Irish trad, even God himself, ol' Frankie Gavin? YES PLEASE!!!!

Susan McKeown - Lowlands

Though McKeown's a great Irish singer, she can travel pretty far afield. This is one of her best, most understated albums, and it draws primarily from the rich loam of Irish soil. Great stuff.


The Unwanted - Music from the Atlantic Fringe

A totally surprising, unexpected album of delights. Cathy Jordan and Seamie O'Dowd of Dervish join forces with harmonica whiz Rick Epping for an album that explores the links between Ireland and America. Check out our earlier review of this album

NOW, if you have all these albums, or most, already, then maybe you should pick up a new release or two? John Doyle's got a new album out, and Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny has a pretty awesome solo bluegrass banjo out now too.

Noam Pilkeny: Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail
 

John Doyle: Shadow and Light


Happy Shopping!!

Your Friends at Hearth Music

Halloween is traditionally the kind of holiday just made for club shows. A great time to dress up in crazy outfits and go out dancing and drinking. So no surprise that plenty of that will be happening this weekend. Instead of the usual shenanigans, why not check out this fascinating show on Thursday, October 27 at Columbia City Theater that brings together a host of local roots musicians and songwriters inspired by the immortal novel/film "The Shining." 
 

Thursday, October 27
The Bushwick Book Club Presents
Original Music Inspired by Stephen King's The Shining

Columbia City Theater
Show at 8pm, Tickets $10

Facebook Event

The Bushwick Book Club Seattle has been producing shows inspired by  books for a little while now and have built a great following. If you've read the book (or seen the movie... we like movies too!), it's such a great idea to gather together to experience songs written about the work. It's kind of like a songwriting challenge, with very accessible results. The idea comes from a monthly book club/songwriters event in Brooklyn, but local Seattleite Geoff Larsen started a Northwest branch just a year ago. They've already covered material as diverse as Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. You can hear some of the results on Bushwick Book Club's Bandcamp page.

I can't wait to hear what the artists have come up with for The Shining. The movie is iconic, of course, mainly for Jack Nicholson's electrifying performance as a father steadily going insane in a deserted mountaintop hotel. I'm a huge fan of The Shining, and I've been to Timberline Lodge outside Portland, where much of the movie exteriors were shot. I'd say that The Shining is the Godfather of horror movies; a perfect creation.

The book was written by Stephen King, and it's easily one of his best. The movie stays pretty close to King's novel (with the exception of some freaky topiary lions that come to life in the book), so if you've haven't read the book, you're probably fine. But read it anyway. It's the perfect thing to read on Halloween!

Here's a sample track from a previous Bushwick Book Club event that paired songwriters with The Time Traveler's Wife. Local singer Vince Martinez nails the task at hand. He's written a song that's loosely inspired by the book, but clearly touches on larger themes. Also, in this case, his song is probably better than the book, from all accounts (I haven't read it, sorry). And for future Bushwick Book Club meetings, I'm putting my vote in for George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones (which I'm reading now and can't put down).
 


Also, for our folkie friends, Northwest songwriter Wes Weddell has written an excellent ode to a bagpipe, inspired by Shel Silverstein's poem "The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No." Wes does a great job of bringing Silverstein's rye humor and slightly sad, wistful themes to the song. Masterfully done.

Hearth Music Promotions is going strong this month with two albums of compelling folk and roots music. Plus we're incredibly proud to announce that our artists Pharis & Jason Romero and Ivan Rosenberg & The Foggy Hogtown Boys are at NUMBER ONE and NUMBER THREE on the international Folk-DJ Charts for September. Sandwiched right around Gillian Welch, who's at number two. Yay!!

Pharis & Jason Romero: #1 Top Albums and Songs of Sept 2011 on Folk-DJ Charts, #4 and #5 Top Songs ("Forsaken Love", "Hillbilly Blues"), #3 Top Artists!

Ivan Rosenberg & The Foggy Hogtown Boys: #3 Top Albums and Songs of Sept 2011 on Folk-DJ Charts, #7 Top Artists

FOLK-DJ RADIO CHARTS
 

October Promotions: 

Misner & Smith's California Folk Roots, Kyle Alden's Vision of Yeats' Poetry


Misner & Smith: Live at the Freight & Salvage

Misner & Smith are a gem of a musical pairing, offering a refreshing take on contemporary folk music. Their lovely harmonies and perfectly blended voices fit within classic American traditions, and their songwriting and storytelling transport the listener to a world of their creation. That is the hallmark of any folk singer worth his or her salt, but Misner & Smith have a truly unique quality in the chemistry of their duets that set them apart from the field. Perhaps it’s a shared appreciation and connection to the musical history of their Bay Area home, or maybe it’s simply fate that brought these two artists together, but whatever the impetus for their musical journey, we are unquestionably the better for it.

The duo’s new album Live at the Freight & Salvage is both a testament to their undeniable talent and the quality of their live performances. Recorded at Berkeley’s famed acoustic venue, the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Misner & Smith’s album sounds as good as most studio albums, but with the added energy of a live show. Upon first listen, it’s a pleasant surprise when the audience breaks into applause at the end of “Greyhound Days”, the memorable first track; aside from the album’s title, you would never know everything was recorded live in one take. That’s how tight their harmonies are and how impressive the performance is. The true beauty of Live at the Freight and Salvage is that you can hear for yourself how much Misner & Smith love their audience and how much fun they're having.
 

Misner & Smith: Madeline (Paradise Cracked)


Misner & Smith: Piccolo Pete

 

Kyle Alden: Songs from Yeat's Bee-Loud Glade

The jester walked in the garden:
The garden had fallen still;
He bade his soul rise upward
And stand on her window-sill.

Reading these lines from Irish poet W. B. Yeats, Bay Area musician Kyle Alden felt the words leap from the page as a song. He had just been to Ireland on tour with his Irish folk band, the Gas Men, and it seemed like Yeats was following him around. While traveling through County Galway, Alden stopped at the house where Yeats used to live, and at Coole Park, immortalized in the poem “The Wild Swans at Coole.” Back home in San Anselmo, California, Alden pulled down a dusty collection of Yeats’ poems and found a trove of potential songs. It was if they were just waiting for a melody and a voice. Alden picked up his guitar and soon had “The Cap and Bells,” a touching allegory of love between a jester and a queen.

Kyle Alden has deep ties in the Bay Area roots music scene, with feet firmly planted in both folk rock and Irish traditional music. After growing up on the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, Alden turned his rich voice and his talent on the guitar and mandolin towards Irish music as well as his own work. He also has a notable solo career, having brought out three of his own albums in the past six years. After twenty years of collaborating with some of the top talent in the business, Alden called in some favors, and has brought master mandolinist Mike Marshall, former Frank Zappa bassist Scott Thunes, and violinist Athena Tergis, a featured soloist with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, to lend a hand with this tribute to Ireland’s greatest poet.

Songs from the Bee-Loud Glade takes thirteen of Yeats’ poems and sets them to Alden’s signature modern folk style. Irish tradition weaves in and out, but so does the fingerpicking and slide guitar, along with beautiful harmonies and instrumentation. Brought to life with passion and skill, Yeats’ poems don’t feel a day old. Some burst with energy; some drift peacefully—all capture some part of the magic of Ireland and its incomparable bard.

 
Kyle Alden: Brown Penny


Kyle Alden: The Cap and Bells

 

Friday, November 25

A Tribute to Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music

featuring Kevin Murphy of the Moondoggies, Kevin Barrans & Friends, Ben Fisher, RedDog, Folichon Cajun Band, Pacific NW Sacred Harp Singers, Norman Baker, Virgin of the Birds, Jeremy Burk, Sokai Stilhed, Colin J Nelson, and special animation by Drew Christie

Free Harry Smith Compilation CD with Entry (courtesy of Ball of Wax)

Columbia City Theater
4916 Rainier Ave S.
Tickets $10 adv/$15 door
Show at 9pm

The gnomish genius and Bellingham native Harry Smith was renowned for his psychedelic paintings, mad knowledge of the most arcane corners of human lore, and frightening intensity. But mostly he's known for his seminal "Anthology of American Folk Music." Originally released as three volumes of LPs, the music on the "mixtapes" was a loving ode to the weird, dark recesses of American roots music. Culled from his collection of 78rpm records, the Anthology introduced America to lost artists like Dock Boggs, Charlie Poole, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie Johnson, and entire genres of Americana, like Cajun music or Sacred Harp singing. The influence of Harry Smith's Anthology is still felt today, and on November 25, Seattle's Columbia City Theater will host multiple generations of Northwest artists who've been inspired by the Anthology.

Levi Fuller's Ball of Wax is co-presenting this show along with American Standard Time and Hearth Music. Levi's kind of like a modern Harry Smith, minus Smith's bizarre habits and strange hygiene. For years he's been compiling albums of Northwest musicians, digging deep into our local scene to move beyond the usual list of "accepted" bands in town. His musical tastes roam all over the map, and we've been working together to develop a lineup that can do some kind of justice to the mystical eclecticism of Smith's masterpiece. For this show, Levi's put together a compilation of Northwest artists covering songs from Smith's Anthology. This CD comes free with entry to the show!

We're very proud to present Kevin Murphy of the Moondoggies, one of the best roots music songwriters around and an artist who really gets the heart and soul of Smith's old-timey music collection. Kevin Barrans of the Maldives will be joining us as well, a NW banjo player and Sacred Harp singer who will also bring along the Pacific NW Sacred Harp Singers. If you've never experience live sacred harp singing, it's a hair-raising experience, full of harmonies eerie enough to echo back from the depths of a sin-ridden hell. Seattle's favorite old-time stringband RedDog will contribute some songs, featuring Doug Yule of the Velvet Underground on voice and fiddle, Folichon Cajun Band will plumb the depths of Smith's Cajun collection, and Levi's got a whole host of surprising guests from the indie roots scene, like Virgin of the Birds, Ben Fisher, Sokai Stilhed and more.

As a very special treat, Seattle animator and mad genius Drew Christie will premier a new animation based on John Cohen's (New Lost City Ramblers) meeting with Harry Smith. You can check out Christie's previous film on Cohen here:

 

American Standard Time Presents John Cohen from colony on Vimeo.

Plus check out Drew Christie's official video for The Moondoggies' 'Empress of the North'

 

Empress of the North (official video for the Moondoggies) from Drew Christie on Vimeo.

Each year, the massive behemoth of festival anarchy that is the Northwest Folklife Festival releases a compilation album of live recordings drawn from their huge pool of festival performances. I used to work on these when I was at Folklife, so I know how hard it is to search through the many recordings. In fact, you can listen to a lot of these recordings yourself, if you're interested. Folklife maintains a page on their website of recorded performances from the last festival. There's a ton of listening there! Check it out:

Listen to past Folklife recordings

The best things about the annual Northwest Folklife Festival are the crazy juxtapositions of music genres. No other festival can give you reggae, taiko drumming, old-time stringbands, indie rock, Zimbabwean marimba, and underground hip-hop on the same stage on the same day, one after the other. And that's the best thing about Folklife's new compilation album, Roots & Branches Vol. 3 - Live from the 2011 Festival. As in the making of any good mixtape, the tracks meld together despite the wildly disparate genres. You wouldn't think that the barn-burning bluegrass of Nell Robinson with John Reischman & The Jaybirds could segue into the bagpipe/fiddle music of renowned Celtic band Molly's Revenge, or that the drunken-master surf guitars of The Corespondents could switch over to the Latin-funk of Picoso. Balkan accordion from Mary Sherhart & Michael Lawson finds an unlikely friend in the old-time picking and clogging of Squirrel Butter, and old-school funk masters Wheedle's Groove segue perfectly into the sleepy electric blues of The Jelly Rollers. It's a wild ride, and like the festival itself, you never know where this album is going to take you next.

The Corespondents: Massive Choosits


The Jelly Rollers: Reno Factory

NW Friends: TONIGHT (Friday, Oct 21), Northwest Folklife is hosting a CD Release Party at Columbia City Theater! Spoonshine, Cahalen Morrison & Eli West, The Corespondents, Mary Sherhart, and Chris Cunningham of Ravenna Woods, will be performing. It will be great fun!

FACEBOOK EVENT