Review: Avett Brothers - The Second Gleam

Label: Ramseur Records

Released: July 22, 2008

The Avett Brothers' breakthrough album, last year's Emotionalism, was a work whose broad influences were felt throughout and whose quiet ambition made it both huge and intimate at the same time. The Second Gleam, while keeping to the Avett's signature sound, doesn't share its predecessor's breadth. Instead, it focuses on intimacy and gentle folkiness. Not a single track could be described as rousing, yet it manages to rouse the soul with its simple honesty. As ever, the Avetts prove to be deceptively fine musicians who aren't afraid to put themselves into their music in a way that reaches heights both technical and emotional. The album focuses on personal themes (the past, family, love), yet manages to express them in ways that they can be personal for each listener in his own way.

Ratings:
Satriani - 8/10
Zappa - 7/10
Dylan - 9/10
Aretha - 10/10
Overall - 9/10

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Review: Star Anna - Crooked Paths

Label: Malamute Records

Released: March 4, 2008

Crooked Paths is an album that is seldom just good. Instead, it sometimes struggles just short of good and at other times pushes fantastic. Without question, Star Anna's voice is wonderful. It's dynamic and has really good movement that can be both subtle and bold. The problem is she doesn't let it loose often enough. The opener, "If Wishes Were Horses," plays it entirely too safe, hanging out in the adult alternative end of the pool. "Black Cat Blues" adds some grittiness, but it isn't until the title track that the album really taps into emotion, being somewhat reminiscent of "Sitting Around Waiting to Die." From there, the album's heart rises and falls with her willingness to trust her voice. In the best moments, she can incorporate soul into her country twang. At her worst, she wanders through countrified alt pop. The band is entirely competent, but also utilitarian, lacking the same trust that Star lacks in her weaker moments.

Crooked Paths certainly has its moments, but by and large, it misses its mark, if just barely. Star Anna's voice is rich, but she plays it safe too often and the result is an album that has far too much adult appeal. It's almost as if she's a bit afraid of her country roots and has dummied it down for people who don't want to work to appreciate good music. She shouldn't be afraid though, because that's all that stands between her and a fantastic record.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Caleb Klauder - Dangerous Me's and Poisonous You's

Label: Padre Records (available through CDBaby.com)

Released: March 1, 2007

Caleb Klauder's band Foghorn Stringband is instantly contagious. Its authentic bluegrass instantly wraps you in its warm, genuine strings and heartfelt twang. Klauder's Dangerous Me's and Poisonous You's, on the other hand, takes some time to sink in, not because it isn't as good, but because it has more dimension and depth.

The album mixes old-time string band music with 50s rockabilly and the result has the rootsiness of the former and the energy and pop sense of the latter. Klauder's songs remain largely upbeat while maintaining a certain sadness and his voice has an imperfect beauty whose dissonance evokes a sense of country desperation. Lyrically, the songs speak to people in common themes that we all understand, but avoids silly truisms. Klauder mixes in hints of gospel, mixing the spiritual and the secular in a way that brings out both the joy and sadness in country music's heart.

The cover art is really the best clue to what is contained within. It depicts a man and woman dancing, wrapped up in ecstatic joy. But he's holding a gun and she a snake. Dangerous Mes and Poisonous Yous is a celebration of life yet a rejection of worldliness. It is the struggle between love of life and that sense that we must remain detached from its pleasures. It is the celebration of real lives, both good and bad. And it's a really good Americana record to boot.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Review: Mechanical Bull - A Million Yesterdays

Label: Woodstock Musicworks

Released: November 1, 2007

A Million Yesterdays's brand of Americana generally alternates between country and country rock, finding the most consistency with the former, but perhaps their best moments with the latter. Their more traditional songs show clear command of the genre. Avalon Peacock's voice might get a little shaky in her vibrato, but that along with rough male/female harmonies give the songs color more often than hindering them. Their upbeat country tunes are their best, because they find that irony between the bright surface and the sad undercurrent.

When Mechanical Bull throws more rock into the mix, they don't reach the heights of the bands like the Allmans, at least partially because they're too low-key for that kind of energy. However, they do at times approach the Eagles (if only the Eagles had soul), managing to be catchy without too much pop. The result is sometimes generic, but at other times they mix things up with odd instrumentation (see the sax part on "Desert Air") that shows they have personality and that they should show it more, because it works.

All in all, A Million Yesterdays has some very bright moments, but doesn't consistently let itself shine. When they're a typical Americana band, Mechanical Bull isn't bad. It's when they aren't typical though that they approach something really special.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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Live: The Bowmans

March 12, 2008, Baltimore Chop Books, Baltimore, Maryland

This was a night of endangered and lost arts: folk music, storytelling, community...and geography. That's right, geography. Over the course of an intimate night of folk music in a small (and very cool) independent book store, Sarah and Claire Bowman, through the stories attached to and included in their music, illustrated the importance of geography, where you are, to everything from scenery to relationships to state of mind. When you hear great harmonies like the Bowmans display on their Far From Home album, you have to wonder how many takes it took or how much help they might have gotten in the studio. Seeing them live in a small space not designed specifically for music answers that question: they can do it at will, no tricks whatsoever. The sisters simply have an innate sense of each other when they sing and it is simply amazing to hear it in person. Their songs, including a few new ones, could be so delicate that they mixed with the breeze blowing flyers hanging in the doorway or so bold that they literally filled the room. Their sound, with just their two voices, a guitar and light percussion, was stronger and clearer than just about any I've heard even plugged in and mixed in venues designed only for music. They trusted their music enough to bring Joe, a guy from the audience with whom they had never played in person, up to join them for a song.

Baltimore Chop Books has regular musical guests and it's a great place to see some great music. One couple brought their infant daughter and it was entirely appropriate. Others in the crowd ranged from 20s to maybe 60s. While an artist sketched the performance, others discussed baseball and news during the break. There was even a dog at the show! It was the kind of event where there were no barriers between people other than those brought with you (and even some of those were likely broken down). The place just had a real sense of human community. Add the music and it probably can't be beat.



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Review: Twilight Hotel - Highway Prayer

Label:

Released: January 29, 2008

It's not often that I find a record that offers as much musically as it does lyrically (unless, of course, it's bad at both). On Highway Prayer, it's hard to decide which Twilight Hotel does better. The songs fill the whole spectrum from the fun, upbeat opener, "Viva La Vinyl," a song about record collecting, to the stark, longing closer, "Sand in Your Eyes," which pleads, "I want you to be my muse again, pull all the beauty from me that you can."

The most striking thing about Twilight Hotel are the vocal harmonies of Brandy Zdan and Dave Quanbury. Perhaps the intimacy of their personal relationship brings their voices together in a special way, but whatever the reason, they have an innate sense of each other as singers. Even apart, they each have great movement in their voices and together that movement creates color and texture. The instrumentation behind the vocals might not jump out, but is superb nonetheless and equally at home with blues, country, Latin, cabaret, pop or whatever road the song takes. This isn't the typical session musician ability to play flawlessly in many styles, but a true connection with the music. It's the kind of near-perfection that never sounds slick, because it's far too human.

Lyrically, they can convey everything from good times to quiet desperation, running the full range of human emotion. The title track walks successfully through the difficult landscape of the often misused travel metaphor. "No Place for a Woman" could almost be mistaken for sexy, yet tells the harrowing story of a woman working in the male-dominated world of coal mining. The real gem is "The Ballad of Salvadore and Isabelle." This is protest music the way it should be done (and is done by the best). It doesn't rail against the system. It doesn't scream, "Revolution!" Instead, it tells a story, a sad story that is likely all too based in reality. The protest is implicit in the story, but never supersedes it, because the story, the characters, the human part are paramount over ideology. The ugliness in the song isn't ugly because the band doesn't like it, but because it violates human dignity. In these days where celebrity "protest" has become common, there are quite a few who could take a lesson from Twilight Hotel.

Highway Prayer is musically rich and lyrically vivid, a combination that makes it accessible to almost anyone, because it can connect on so many levels. Whether dark or bright, protest or party, the songs are consistently colorful and manage to find equal success in being bold and subtle. Even the untitled instrumental tacked onto the end is played with soul.

Ratings:
Satriani - 8/10
Zappa - 6/10
Dylan - 7/10
Aretha - 8/10
Overall - 8/10

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Review: Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Label: Ramseur Records

Released: March 15, 2007

Americana's return to the distant roots of rock music can be both a strength and a limitation. The genre often taps into the stripped down honesty of early music, but is also limited in its influences. The Avett Brothers, however, capture the genre's strengths without being held to its limitations.

The band, Scott and Seth Avett on banjo/kick drum and guitar/high-hat respectively, and Bob Crawford on bass, along with a variety of guests, stick to traditional string band instrumentation and that both keeps their sound rooted in tradition and makes their broad sound more surprising.

While "Shame," one of the album's strongest songs, largely fits the traditional mold, it's the Avetts' ability to add a pop hook that is the cream rising to the top. They stray even farther from the old-time, down-home sound as they dabble in cabaret on "Paranoia in Bb Major" and Latin music on "Pretty Girl form Chile." They nearly cover "All My Loving" with "Will You Return," but that very Beatlesque charm pops up throughout the album in less obvious ways.

Because the arrangements are so traditional, Emotionalism never crosses the line into the ridiculous despite its boldness. The vocals in particular have a charming imperfection, adding both color and warmth. Instead of being sold on itself, the album remains down to earth, allowing low-key tunes like "The Ballad of Love and Hate" to speak directly to the listener, like a friendship rather than a performance. The Avetts' ability be simultaneously rooted in tradition and stretching their legs with eclecticism allows them to translate genre-specific work into broad appeal.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: The Bowmans - Far From Home

Label: Mother West

Released: April 10, 2007

The Bowmans aren't your typical Americana band. Like the more widely known Avett Brothers, they work from a broader palette than many of their peers. The Bowmans maintain a rootsy feel throughout despite breaking away from traditional folk style and augmenting their sound at times with electricity.

The vocals are the centerpiece of the music. Sarah and Claire Bowman's harmonies are rich and colorful. Best of all, they really use those harmonies to make the songs bold. It's not just something they save for the chorus, but something they use to create the ebb and flow of their music. They often incorporate a hint of jazz and it's the cadence of their voices that makes everything swing. While it may all revolve around their voices, the music behind is often responsible for some of the subtleties that make the album shine. Much of the album's understated catchiness and quirkiness is in the backing band. It is these very things that make it sneak up and grab you. In addition to the indie folk of their Americana base and the jazziness that runs through it, the Bowman's also manage to throw in some rock, with one flat out rocker, and even dabble in chamber music and vaudeville at times. They finish it all off Abbey Road-style with a fun little ditty called "Porker Song" (although unlike "Her Majesty," this one actually has a message).

Far from Home is essentially a rootsy Americana record, but it isn't old-timey by any means. At its worst, it's still fine folk music for the indie crowd, but at its best, it brings a lot more to the table and has a much broader rock appeal that throws out the limitations typically seen in the genre.

Rating: 7/10

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Review: Glenna Bell - The Road Less Traveled

Label: CD Baby

Released: January 8, 2008

The first thing you notice about Glenna Bell's music is her voice. It can be delicate and bold, rich and breathy. She has this amazing vibrato that you can feel as much as hear. It would make for great country music even if the songs were awful. But they're not awful, they're actually quite good. The first half of the record is largely traditional, made up mostly of country waltzes that allow Bell to really exercise her voice. Her band does better with the slower, understated material while they miss, if only slightly, with the low-key rock n roll shuffle of "Can't Get My Mind Off You."

Two covers in the middle of the album are the only miscues. Bell's take on Willie Nelson's "The Family Bible" is too measured and planned. On "Jackson," Bell and male vocalist Johnny Bush do their best June and Johnny. While it's very good, it can't compare to the definitive version. With her voice, she could easily have made the song her own to avoid a comparison and let it stand on its own. These are both adequate covers, but next to everything that precedes and follows, they are at best a lull in the album.

While the first half showed Bell can play in the realm of old school country, the second half shows that she can modify that a little and appeal to indie rock fans as well without giving any ground on the traditional front. The quirky, dark humor of "How I Found Out I'm Insane" is grounded in a lazy shuffle and talking vocals. "Shiner Bock & ZZ Top" is an off-kilter, but colorful ode to the simplicity of living for today. Her narrative approach to speaking out against suburban sprawl on "La Casa Que Yo Amo" presents a human story that is easy to feel as much as hear. The Road Less Traveled saves its best for last. "Be My Valentine (on Christmas)" is not just a clever holiday song, but perhaps the best vehicle for Bell's amazing voice. While the music still grounds these songs in country's long tradition, their lyrics have a more modern appeal that should allow Bell to capitalize on the broadest spectrum of Americana's fan base.

While the beautiful shakiness of her vibrato may be The Road Less Traveled's most striking element, the songwriting should not be overlooked. Bell has subtly brought pop elements and indie quirkiness into a fine collection of songs that tap into a long musical tradition that goes back well beyond Bell's own years. Other than the covers, the album ranges from very good to downright brilliant.

Rating: 8/10

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