new/recent
releases
Drew
Emmitt, Freedom Ride
(Compass, due for April 9 release) Drew Emmitt is the lead
singer and mandolin player with the popular jam band Leftover
Salmon. He steps out here on his first solo record and brings
along a host of blue/newgrass friends that include John Cowan, the
John Cowan Band, Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Vassar
Clements, Stuart Duncan, and Randy Scruggs. The album's title
track features a scorching duet vocal with former New Grass
Revival lead singer Cowan. The Cajun-flavored "Bend in the River"
and the bluegrassy cover of Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" are
likely to become staples in the newgrass repertoire. Also of note:
"Paving Eisenhower," featuring a dazzling mandolin duet with
Ronnie McCoury and the Emmitt-Peter Rowan duet on the classic
"Memories of Mother and Dad."
Scott
McClatchy, Redemption
(Dec 12, 2001). Philadelphia-bred and now NYC-based Scott
McClatchy melds a rustic twanginess with a blue-collar
sensibility. It's no surprise then that fellow urban troubadours
Willie Nile, Scott Kempner and the legendary Dion join him on a
version of the Band's "The Weight".
McClatchy displays a gift for dealing
with weighty issues without being heavy-handed. He weaves a
Byrdsian guitar line through the title track, a song in which he
questions sin and redemption. "The Reason" and "The Legend"
provide poignant looks at a troubled relationship and an
over-the-hill performer, respectively. "My Family's Land" and
"Goodnight Bobby", meanwhile, are two moving story-songs
chronicling hardscrabble, rural American life. McClatchy concludes
his fine second solo album on a rousing note with a rendition of
the Del Lords' anthematic "Heaven". (Amazon)
other
featured albums
Dave
Carter and Tracy Grammer, Drum Hat
Buddha (Signature, June
2001). Not too long ago we featured Tanglewood Tree, the previous
Carter-Grammer release. Roy Kasten writes: Dave Carter and
Tracy Grammer take a convincing step forward on their third
release, which at various times echoes the music of Robin and
Linda Williams and a twangy version of Richard and Linda Thompson.
Although gifted on banjo, guitar, fiddle, organ, and mandolin, the
duo has placed a premium on the songwriting, with considerable
payoff. "Tillman Co." details the ordinary terrors of rural
working-class life, "Gentle Arms of Eden" evokes a mystical gospel
vision, and "Ordinary Town" offers one of the best opening lines
heard this year--"Common cool, he was a proud young fool in a
kick-ass Wal-Mart tie"--and then somehow sums up the mysteries of
small-town life. Now and again, the philosophical trappings can
feel rather starched and pretentious, abetted in part by Carter's
penchant for faux-Shakespearean syntax and imagery--"Hail the
wayward werewolf howlin' / Haints and shades and goblins growlin'"
is one such clumsy exertion--but the overriding musical and
lyrical eloquence makes Drum Hat Buddha one
of the more original Americana releases of the
year.
Chip
Taylor, Black and Blue America
(Trainwreck, Aug 2001). Since he gave up the ponies and
returned to music full time, the author of "Wild Thing" and "Angel
of the Morning" has enjoyed a low-profile artistic renaissance of
elegant, tender songwriting. But by the lights of his fifth
post-racetrack release, penning shrewd, often stunning
country-folk lyrics is no longer enough. With the help of Lucinda
Williams, John Prine, ex-Van Morrison guitarist John Platania, and
gospel singers Audrey Martels and Deena Miller, Chip Taylor aims
for the big statement, splicing in spoken samples from Eisenhower,
Malcom X, Cassius Clay, and older brother Jon Voight as if his
songs of temptation, outlaws, Jesus, baseball, and Marilyn Monroe
weren't deliberate enough. Taylor isn't a memorable singer, but
his lackadaisical drawl isn't offensive either--and when Lucinda
joins him on aching, unpretentious ballads like "Could I Live with
This" and "The Ship," his listeners will immediately recognize why
Taylor is both a legend and a vital, contemporary voice. --Roy
Kasten
riffs
On
St. Patrick's Day, Sisyphus rolled quite a bit of Celtic, Irish
and Irish-related tunes. Some will find it's way into this week's
mix, and it also provides a good excuse to throw up this terrific
photo of James Joyce in 1923 once again . . . We're just days from
the official onset of Spring calendar-wise, and ST has already
moved into this new mode. While the change of seasons is not at
all dramatic down here in South Florida, the few dogwoods in the
vicinity are near blooming, the weather is gorgeous, and change is
palpable in the air. The snow melts up North to come are nice, but
even without such concrete signs, Spring is as much an attitude as
anything else. The expression "Hope springs eternal" is no
accident. Rebirth and resurrection - regardless of one's religious
affiliation - are taking over the landscape of the mind as much as
green and lush will soon enough alter the landscape of your
neighborhood:
Before you thought of spring,
Except as a surmise,
You see, God bless his suddenness,
A fellow in the skies
Of independent hues,
A little weather-worn,
Inspiriting habiliments
Of indigo and brown.
With specimens of song,
As if for you to choose,
Discretion in the interval,
With gay delays he goes
To some superior tree
Without a single leaf,
And shouts for joy to nobody
But his seraphic self!
-- Emily Dickinson
Notes by Michael Westerfield
unless otherwise indicated.
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