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my year in music, cont

 Sam Bush – Circles Around Me

The more the great Sam Bush changes, the more he remains the same. I think what I mean by that is he’s got a clearer musical ethic than most, and he’s able to take his spirit and sound to a huge variety of musical contexts and remain utterly recognizable as Sam -- energetic, ebullient, playful and powerful Sam. After a string of solo albums that saw him range away a bit from his bluegrass/newgrass roots and into some nice worldly and songwritery veins, Circles brings him back home. He even covers a couple of New Grass Revival songs here, and there are a few bluegrass barnburners that remind us we’re dealing with a child of Kentucky who grew up on a beguiling mixture of Bill Monroe and psychedelic rock and roll. We’ve been fortunate to work with Sam on a video series running all winter on his website, and it’s been amazing to hear his life story and rummage through his LP collection and his mental attic, which is stuffed with great stories and memories. Sam is liable these days to use the phrase “joyful noise” about musical experiences he’s enjoyed, and Circles Around Me is certainly that.

 Bela Fleck – Throw Down Your Heart

Damn, I love this album. Loaded with rare textures and dreamy, nerve-tickling poly-rhythms, it represents my favorite kind of recording, one where an artist takes on a collaborative mission and goes to another culture to find common ground and work through frustrations and complexities to a promised land of sweet music. This is part III of Bela’s long-running “Tales From The Acoustic Planet” series of albums, and these are all for me canonical music. Out of the whole cadre of bluegrass-rooted musicians who made me want to move to Nashville, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, etc., Bela is the one for me who most completely blends passion for tradition with intellectual rigor and musical mysticism. Yes, you can listen to his playing, which blends masterfully into the many different musical forms here, but what you’re really fortunate to hear is Bela LISTENING. I love the tracks here from Mali best of all, and “Ah Ndiya” with Oumou Sangare is transcendent. I also love the more produced and trippy sound collage made from a multi-country, abundantly overdubbed “D’gary Jam.” Six minutes of swooning, ambient joy. The making of the album was the basis for the documentary of the same title, which aired on public television this year. 

my year in music, cont

 Bearfoot – Doors and Windows

They were a darn good young bluegrass band from Alaska (of all places) even before they added singer/fiddler Odessa Jorgenson. Then when the North Carolina-based Jorgenson left the Biscuit Burners to join this emerging group and matched her voice with Kate Hamre and Angela Oudean, the whole project just levitated. I first rolled this album front to back on a drive into the Smoky Mountains and it couldn’t have matched the summer day any better. They’re serene and uplifting with enough traditional old-time bite and tang to keep it grounded. The songwriting is rangy and sophisticated, their covers well chosen. Their version of “Single Girl” became my favorite of all time since the Carter Family, and they offer a sweet mountain-infused reading of “Don’t Let Me Down.” These guys have found a fitting label home on Compass and a sound that’s very much their own. Can’t wait to hear how it further develops. 

drummers take it up a notch

 I loved this NY Times piece about the long slow rise of percussionists in contemporary music. I've always thought Western classical music, as remarkable as it is harmonically and structurally, didn't give me much of what I was looking for in the rhythm department. It's why I was drawn more to jazz and the modern minimalists like Steve Reich. But of late, writes Allan Kozinn, percussion-forward music has become hot.

Having established their centrality to the sound of contemporary music, percussionists are beginning to make themselves heard in other ways; for example, by composing and conducting. Again the contrast with the 19th century and even the first part of the 20th century is enormous.

He mentions one of my favorite musicians in the world, Evelyn Glennie, the deaf Scottish percussion soloist and composer. I heard about her years ago on a 60 Minutes profile and was gobsmacked. Then I saw her a couple summers ago in Boone NC. It was as involving and exciting a classical concert as I've seen in years. And since I was just in touch with him and he's great, I'll give a shout-out to my friend Danny Holt, a contemporary percussionist/pianist  who's making waves out in LA. 

my year in music, cont.

 Sarah Jarosz - Song Up In Her Head

Anticipation for this album in the roots music and bluegrass community was high. Sarah had been wowing folks at shows and jams for years and she's part of an innovative musical posse who invaded the Berklee College of Music last fall, while Sarah's mandolin chops were impressive enough to get her into the New England Conservatory this fall. The album, co-produced with the impeccable Gary Paczosa, not only didn't disappoint, it was revelatory. Her voice is viscous like honey and strangely mature for her tender age. Her picking is of the highest order - dazzling on the mandolin and soul satisfying on the clawhammer banjo. The songs reflect an innovative take on traditional balladry. They tell stories and leave plenty of room for personal interpretation. This is truly American roots for modern times.

 Loudon Wainwright III - High Wide & Handsome

This two-CD concept project co-produced by Wainwright and Dick Connette shines a long overdue spotlight on Charlie Poole, one of the vital figures in the history of country music and a native son of my beloved home state of North Carolina. The always insightful and funny Wainwright reinterprets classics from Poole's repertoire like "The Deal" and "Sweet Sunny South." And he fleshes out Poole's story with original songs inspired by the life of this somewhat crazy and indolent master. "Way Up In NYC" is a highly pictorial documentary in song that makes you feel as if you've tagged along to a primitive recording session and then gone on a bender with the boys afterward. Loudon's singing has never been better, and the elaborate liner notes and packaging makes this a gift-worthy release. May Grammys follow.

my year in music, part one

I gave up reviewing records several years ago because while I love having and sharing opinions,  it was never my intent to decree one album better or worse than another. Plus, I love musicians and the Nashville music community and I had no interest in distancing myself from them sufficiently to dispassionately rate or rank records made by these fine and good-hearted artists. But I do miss writing about recordings, so with the year coming to a close I thought I’d review (as in re-visit, not critically nitpick) my favorite albums of 2009. It’s not a Top Ten list because to do that I’d have had to listen to everything, and now more than ever, that's impossible. Instead, I’m liberated to write as a music fan rather than a music journalist. It’s the music that came my way and that found its way into my heart. Some of it comes from my clients at String Theory Media, and obviously that’s biased, but the great thing about working with artists who have new music is that I gain an intimacy with the albums that I rarely get as a grazing listener. No surprise then that they became favorites. So take it as intended -- a brisk tour to the music I thought worthy of your attention before we all go headlong into another year of the new.

 Julian Lage – Sounding Point

With apologies to all the songwriters out there, this instrumental disc was my favorite album of the year. As a guitar player, it was an epiphany to be introduced to a new jazz virtuoso who’s not only skilled but who has as distinct a voice as any of my very favorites, from Montgomery to Frisell. Just 21, Lage has been groomed for greatness since his single digits. He said he waited to make his debut recording until he felt he had something to say as a composer, and this is where the disc is elevated to greatness. Working at the delicious boundary where traditional acoustic jazz meets chamber music, with more than a few gestures to newgrass (mando god Chris Thile is a guest), Lage finds my sweet spot between convention and experimentation, between consonance and dissonance, between groove and flow. I was happy to see this disc earn a jazz Grammy nomination, and I look forward to being a lifelong fan of this Bay Area genius.

 

 Sarah Siskind – Say It Louder

She’s my old friend and I love her dearly, but that’s not why I must shout from the rooftops about Say It Louder. This is folk-pop perfection – the album that the immensely talented Siskind has been preparing for over her remarkable past decade of growth and success (several cuts by Alison Krauss among other honors). This CD was named Americana Album of the Year at the revived Nashville Music Awards last fall, and I dearly hope it shows up on national critics’ lists; if it doesn’t, they just didn’t listen to it. It’s got the bite and silk of Patty Griffin, the old world yearning of Gillian Welch plus a sharp pop seductiveness. Her melodies jump straight into the heart with their big leaps and curlicue warbles. Jason Lehning's production builds on her natural instrument with a moody soundscape that simmers with subtle grooves and cadences. Song of the year candidate is the lovely, elegiac "Getaway Girl." Highest recommendation imaginable.

 

the decade in nashville - part two

Here's part two of my Decade In Music report from Nashville for All Things Considered. See notes below.

new story: the decade in nashville for npr

Part one of my Decade in Music report from Nashville aired yesterday on All Things Considered. Part two, about Music City's non-country genres, airs tonight. It's a lot to cover in a total of 10 minutes, so I'm sorry so many important developments of the past decade couldn't get squeezed in: O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Dixie Chicks Home album; the slow-burn success of traditionalists like Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert; the establishment of the Americana Music Honors & Awards and the growth of the AMA; the move of the IBMA awards to Nashville's Ryman Auditorium; Bonnaroo and so much more. Thoughts about the decade in Music City are welcome in the always-too-empty comment box.  

the great danny barnes surveys the chaos and likes it

Danny Barnes is one iconoclastic dude, and I've loved his quirky, always fresh takes on traditional music and rock and roll. Here, straight from his blog, is a similarly unique view of the music business. As a fan and purveyor, he sees the glass more than half full. It's inspiring. Full text follows after the jump.

"i've been so jazzed about all this stuff. it's been building and building for the last few years and now things are so happening right now, let's take a look at a few points that make me leap out of bed with excitement about how killer this whole deal is."

"digital music is sensory deprivation"

I don't take sides in the digital versus analog debate. I see benefits of both, and I believe that if consumers were given better access to full-resolution digital sound of the kind recording engineers get to hear, we'd all be closer to nirvana. But I stumbled on this report from back in the days when MTV actually did substantive news pieces about music and how it gets made. Neil Young makes it.

apply brain before writing about the brain and music

However, an abundance of brain scans, experimental studies and case histories has, in the end, failed to answer certain vital questions: What is music? Where can we find it in the brain? Why does it do what it does to us?

via online.wsj.com

I really enjoyed Stuart Isacoff's book Temperament about the remarkable development of Western harmonic rules in the 17th century, a very important story. But a friend pointed me to an Isacoff article in this week's Wall St Journal that set me off. Poorly argued, it's one of those pieces that gives people the wrong impression of some very important research. The brief excerpt above reveals why.