Category: CD_reviews

When his contemporaries and even some of the younger ones too have run out of fertile juice, Tom Russell keeps plucking from his desires, dreams and especially his memories.

His latest–“Mesabi”–is among his most creative ventures, bringing back to life artists and performers from multiple entertainment realms, their unsanitized human shortcomings and the feelings everyday folk attach to their stars.

In this release, the spectrum covers the resonance of Bob Dylan’s birthplace, reality’s demons despoiling actors Sterling Hayden and Bobby Driscoll, the improbable life of Ukelele Ike, Elizabeth Taylor’s serial quests for fulfillment, riffing off James Dean’s no-mans-land death and, very broadly, the fantasy world depicted in films plus what viewers add to such make-believe. Call it the human fascination with other worldliness, a respite from the down and dirty of reality.

Russell’s latest home territory, El Paso, but more so the accompanying Juarez, now separated by a river of hope and tears, is also tragically displayed.

In “And God Created Bordertowns,” Russell sings:

“…Our guns go ‘cross the Rio Grande
Two thousand pieces everyday
And the coke and weed and methamphetamine
Come sliding back the other way…

In “Goodnight Juarez,” he captures the nihilism present today:

“…Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows just
caught the last bus out
She said: “Seven sorrows used to fit the bill
but I’d need 10,000 now…”

But there is departure from the sins and sadness too, such as that depicted in “Love Abides,” a plying of eventual optimism plus the destruction of fear and a heading inside to one’s sanctuary core in “Heart Within A Heart.”

There is no one else offering this kind of material and with such a display. Russell presents an entertaining mix of past and present in displaying vignettes of our mostly human tragedy.

The Playlist

• Mesabi
• When The Legends Die
• Farewell Never Neverland
• The Lonesome Death of Ukelele Ike
• Sterling Hayden
• Furious Love (For Liz)
• A Land Called “Way Out There”
• Roll The Credits, Johnny
• Heart Within A Heart
• And God Created Bordertowns
• Goodnight, Juarez
• Jai Alai
• Love Abides
• A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
• The Road To Nowhere

Ben Bedford

It’s one of life’s ethereally divine moments, hearing a compelling song yet not knowing the title or the artist. Immediately, nothing else matters. All focus and energy shifts to discovering the genesis of those words and sounds, it’s a siren song journey but with a happier conclusion.

Thus was my awakening to Ben Bedford, a process containing similarities to Christopher Columbus ‘discovering’ the New World since Bedford has two previous releases and a successful tenure as a singer-songwriter. His musical tree obviously sprouted in the forest some time ago but this convert must have been too focused on various branches or twigs to notice.

With Bedford, neither narrative nor rhyme is ever forced. His evocative lyrics present the living and the dead, the past and the present alongside all the twists and turns that design life. In many of his offerings, it’s a greater understanding either being sought or presented. Despite his relative youth, his music is remarkably old soul-like.

Bedford’s vocals are clear and precise, his musical accompaniment connective companions to his words. A number of his works are connected to people and places in his home state of Illinois.

Notes on various of his songs:

“John the Baptist,” opens the release, with the title character singing of baptism and resurrection, the superseding of the Old Testament and surrendering to the single path towards eternal life yet not utilizing literal directness through employing those specific terms. Such is his wonderful elevation of artistry. Near the beginning:

Duly note the odds are heavy that Chris Smither will want to record this cut some day.

With resonance from Ron de la Vega’ cello work, the title cut “What We Lost” is about a time and life remembered but now impossible to recreate. It’s the taste of victory in war soured by a very personal loss, the feeling of the collective not meshing with that of the individual.

Both of these songs epitomize a form of Faustian bargains of sorts, a giving up of something for what many, but not all in the end, deem is better overall.

Bedford sings of trigger events in the tumultous life of prairie troubador-poet Vachel Lindsay in “Vachel.” The opening lines offer a sense of Bedford’s lyrical touch:

Next are “Fallen” and “Empty Sky,” separate creations but twined by the theme that love is truly free of verbal and written definition. It simply is, a manifestation visible in multiple embodiments and never improper.

“Cloudless” details the integrity of the search for meaning even when the target is less than fully defined and the journey is difficult for all. Bedford sings:

“The Ballad of Harlington Wood” zeroes in on Wood’s work as mediator in the Wounded Knee standoff between American Indians and the U.S. government in 1973. It brings to mind Robert Earl Keen’s “Shades of Gray.”

Songs

• John the Baptist (3:45)
• What We Lost (4:57)
• Cahokia (2:44)
• Vachel (5:06)
• Empty Sky (3:54)
• Fire in his Bones (4:01)
• Cloudless (4:09)
• The Ballad of Harlington Wood (3:47)
• Guinevere is Sleeping (3:15)

copyright 2102, Ben Bedford, Butterchine Music

Tom Irwin wrote a lengthy, informative article on Ben Bedford and his music in November 2012.

The sense that creativity wanes with the turning of the calendar page is absolutely turned on its head by John McCutcheon’s new release “22 Days.” The birth father to 36 creations in his musical lineage, the latest demonstrates that age certainly hasn’t diminished his imagination.

What was the genesis for this offering? Paying homage to friend and musical comrade Vedran Smailovic who faced down death in war torn Sarajevo during the Balkan War by publicly playing a classical music piece for 22 straight days in honor of that number of civilian deaths there due to a mortar attack.

So in late May 2012, McCutcheon spent 22 consecutive days writing and composing. Covering topics illuminating a wide spectrum of emotions and traits, his worldly collection depicts love, hate, fear, courage, humor and tragedy and more as he sets his words amidst celtic, shanty, Appalachian and general folk tunes.

With smooth vocals that neither shout nor scold, McCutcheon sings of recent sordid history in Pakistan, peace substituted for war, aging gracefully, southern cuisine (apparently not an oxymoron), the void due to the absence of a longtime mate, mushroom hunting (of which it would be wonderful if Stan Rogers were still alive to take on this song — maybe Garnet will do so), the work left for the backs, arms and shoulders of immigrants, a pub patron’s dream/nightmare, the war loss of a lover, mining destruction, the infinite beauty of song and and the vagaries of viewing those who weave in and out of our lives.

Every listener will emerge from listening with his and her own favorites. For this reviewer “Of an Age,” stands out but possibly you have to be more than a few decades into your life to truly appreciate it.

Add in “Heaven’s Kitchen” whose title should somehow have included the word fried, the tierra firma shanty “Dry Land Fish,” and the celestial love song “Orion’s Belt.”

“Tonight” reeks of Harlan County due to both lyrics and very effective banjo but the genesis for the song is unfortunately far more widespread.

In the broadest of statements and employing an ample brush, McCutcheon has never penned a song even verging on the why-did-he-record-that territory. His musical ear remains keen as well as consistent.

On that aspect, why isn’t McCutcheon a Kennedy Center honoree? There may not have been millions earned or entertained but, of the quality, proficiency and deservedness, there can be no doubt.

Play List

• Forgotten (4:58)
• Fitzgerald (2:48)
• Of an Age (3:28)
• Heaven’s Kitchen (3:18)
• Morning (3:40)
• Dry Land Fish (2:39
• Nothing Like You (5:46)
• The Night That Dan Ryan Got Locked in the Pub (5:00)
• Orion’s Belt (4:16)
• Tonight (4:46)
• She Sings ((3:33)
• The Man Walking His Dog (2:41)
• Adagio in Am (3:15)

First, it was “The Sylvan Song” and “Fall Down As The Rain” as musical highlights in the CD with the latter song as the title.

Then came the release of a host of compelling compositions with “Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog” (“John Jones,” “Freddy the Falcon,” “Brooklyn in July,” “Blue Tattoo” as well as the title cut) generally featuring historical events and figures in and around Ithaca, New York and the state itself.

With “Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee,” Joe Crookston re-enters the realm of storytelling: especially spiritual and with the carving out of room for listener interpretation, paving the way for individual takeaway from the various tales.

The Highlights 

“Good Luck John” depicts the yin-yang of instantaneously ascribing a value judgment to life’s events minus any period of time-passing perspective, and also not. Label it the gauging of happenings as a ‘it just is what it is — at least for the time being’ portrayal.

In the mental illness and family-driven “The Nazarene,” Crookston amply demonstrates his songwriting motif in which observations/facts are again offered without the tipping point weight of positive or negative being attached. Two examples are:

” …Mom thinks she’s Jesus Christ the Nazarene …”

“… down the hall into the room where the other prophets are …”

Such ‘epithets’ as crazy or sick are not utilized, yet portrayed, because the illness isn’t the point, or at least not the primary focus.

“The Nazarene” is the most haunting and compelling cut. Given radio play, this song will be a stop-listeners-in-their-tracks composition.

In the title cut “Darkling and the BlueBird Jubilee,” Crookston starkly illustrates that objects and even life itself can be wrestled away but not values and how one lives life. A key lines: 

“… where love and persistence are the alter where I kneel …”

Another captivating cut, “Caitlin at the Window,” intertwines the lives of Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin McNamara Thomas. From the perspective of the latter, it reflects on the haunting of their tumultuous twining and his final resting place in Lougharne, Wales (which also became hers). 

“I Sing” is philosophical gospel blues set to a banjo background.

In “Everything Here Is Good,” all unfurls in an almost effortless flow (that’s one of Crookston’s major artistic skills). Give it a listen and you’ll understand.

Sounding as if straight out of a hymnal but never directly affiliating with such is the backbone of “A Friend Like You.”

What Crookston has done with the liner notes for each song dovetails with the overall arc of the release. The offering for the title cut, “Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee,” reads: good? bad? hope. cynicism. triumph? be. accept. struggle. battle. accept. good? bad? evil. dark. light. transcend. continue. overcome.

Two other elements that remains constant throughout Crookston’s work are his ‘nothing is forced, all seems organic’ inviting vocals and the instrumentation surrounding his lyrics. Concerning the latter, he brings to mind Martin Simpson, who during his period fronting the group “Band of Angels,” would improvise with guitar play in between songs and what that produced was just as engaging as anything on the set list.

There are stories told here, maybe not as fully sketched as those on “Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog.” This one is in the vein of “The Sylvan Song” — more left to the perception and discernment of the listener.

“Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee” is definitely one of the top releases of the year, a very enjoyable compilation. Crookston may be under-recognized but his multi-faceted musical strengths make him one of the best today.

PLAYLIST

• “I Sing – 2:33
• “Caitlin At The Window” – 4:17
• “Mercy Now” – 5:10 Mary Gauthier)
• “Good Luck John” – 3:42
• “The Nazarene” – 4:42
• “Darkling & the BlueBird Jubilee” – 3:20
• “Everything Here is Good” – 3:21
• “Wilderness Alone” – 3:21
• “Blue” – 3:43
• “A Friend Like You” – 3:22
• “To Keep You Warm” – 2:46
• “Darkling/Bluebird (Fear & Transcend) – 3:59

Joe Crookston’s website

Tom Russell has never been a GRAMMY nominee let alone the winner of such an award. Of course, he’s not a ‘prominent’ singer-songwriter in a ‘popular genre’ but the artistry of his music, whether it be on his latest CD “Folk Hotel,” or in many of his earlier releases, blatantly outshines many of the actual honorees.

Just give “All on a Belfast Morning” a listen here:

Yes, “let us not confuse the pint with the pouring.”

In this new release, Russell continues his penchant for writing about historical and cultural figures in a compelling manner as with “Up in the Old Hotel” and its numerous references:

But in “Harlan Clancy,” he goes present day in depicting a segment of life in rural America so pertinent in the 2016 election:

Our vocabulary is expanded in the provocatively titled “The Dram House Down in Gutter Lane” with listeners learning about harrigans, hags, rusty guts and more. His vivid use of such antiquated words is reminiscent of the late Dave Carter.

Dylan Thomas and his poetry are lauded in “The Sparrow of Swansea.”

Russell writes and sings about fragility in life, of facing and combating demons, succumbing  to or subsisting alongside them in a makeshift shelter. He is both earthy and eloquent. There simply isn’t a better craftsman producing such work today.