Jeni & Billy

Longing for Heaven

Hard on the heels of their previous release Jewell Ridge Coal (reviewed here), Jeni and Billy have just released another precious mountain jewel, a new collection of original and traditional music titled Longing for Heaven (Jewell Ridge Records 005).

On Longing for Heaven, Jeni and Billy have hit their stride. With its hand-drawn lettering, family photo album and quilt fabrics, the album packaging suggests what’s inside: ten down-home, honest songs that reflect Jeni’s family history in southwest Virginia. Their intertwining two-part harmonies and impeccable picking on guitar and banjo form the perfect backdrop for stories of love and longing, small-town tragedy and the redemption of Jesus. Walk with them, down a coal-littered railroad grade, with gritty union miners on strike, and into a tiny white chapel with a cross on its steeple. Jeni and Billy will take you on a gentle ride back to the green rolling hills of home.

The CD includes three music videos of songs from the record that add to the down-home mood that permeates Longing for Heaven. Shad Cobb contributes his lonesome fiddle on two tracks. Fiddlefreak recommended!

LISTEN: While I Stay At Home And Weep

LISTEN: If I Ever Get Ten Dollars

Jeni & Billy Website

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Serious Sam Barrett

Yorkshire singer-songwriter Sam Barrett is a very busy man. In addition to printing his own product packaging, stickers, and t-shirts, he maintains a hectic gig schedule all over Great Britain, singing a mix of his own songs and trad material from England, Scotland, and Ireland on his vintage Stella 12-string. Sam’s songs are raw, rowdy, and rooted in the green rolling hills of his native North. The original material references early Dylan, and the old songs bring to mind early Paul Brady and Andy Irvine, with just enough punk edge to keep the kids happy. You’ll hear echoes of Americana here too–from southern country blues to Woody Guthrie and Carter Family. Serious Sam is the real deal!

LISTEN: The Yorkshire Tup

LISTEN: The Wild Goose

VIDEO: Lay a White Rose

VIDEO: The Female Drummer

SAM BARRETT MYSPACE

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Nine-8ths Irish

While visiting California from the East Coast, folklorist Mick Moloney once commented to me that he always enjoys it when he discovers traditional Irish music thriving out on the “fringe.” This fact has been again proven by the new release from Sacramento-based quintet Nine-8ths Irish, titled “Out on the Ocean” (FGM Records, produced by Craig Long). This is a cracking collection of session-proven jigs and reels, with a smattering of strong singing and some very impressive original tunes composed by Linda Relph.

Out on the Ocean

The band’s sound revolves around Linda’s crystalline fiddling, with the solid support of Kathy Barwick (guitar), Bo Bowen (whistles), Brady McKay (vocals), and Chris Dunlap (bodhran). Here is a song written by Archie Fisher that they combine with one of Linda’s reels, and a lively reel set that kicks off with another of her tunes. Enjoy!

LISTEN: Men of Worth/Incandescent Reel

LISTEN: Aiden’s/Daley’s Reel

Nine-8ths Irish Website

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Carolina Chocolate Drops

Yesterday, Nonesuch Records released Genuine Negro Jig, the second record from acoustic trio the Carolina Chocoate Drops. Singlehandedly, these young upstarts are breathing new life into an extinct tradition: the black Southern string band. Back in the day, when record companies came to control the distribution of popular music, executives decided that white boys would play old-time string band music and blacks would release “race records” — or blues and jazz. This was an artifical division. In fact there was a thriving tradition of black fiddle and banjo music. Hello! The banjo is traceable to Africa, and today’s American fiddle styles owe much to the rhythmic syncopation of early black fiddlers. Not to mention the profound influence of country blues on today’s highly stylized bluegrass music.

Genuine Negro Jig

Band member Rhiannon Giddens: “It seems that two things get left out of the history books. One, that there was string band music in the Piedmont, period. And that . . . black folk was such a huge part of string tradition.” The Drops trained under the tutelage of Joe Thompson, who at the age of 90 is believed to be the last living performer from the Piedmont string band heyday. But their repertoire goes way beyond old-time fiddle tunes, incorporating joyful jug-jazz, soulful blues, Anglo-Celtic ballads, and modern works as well. Listen close, and you can hear the lonely wail of a wayfaring stranger, traveling though a wearisome land, so far from home.

LISTEN: Peace Behind the Bridge

LISTEN: Snowden’s Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)

Nonesuch Records

Band Website

EXILES RETURN

Finally, the much-anticipated duo project from Karan Casey and John Doyle, “Exiles Return” on Compass Records, will be released on Feb. 16, 2010. If you’ve never heard of these two founding members of Irish supergroup Solas, crawl out of your cave and check this out. If you have heard their previous work, you know why Fiddlefreak is excited about this release.

With guest appearances from producer Dirk Powell (banjo, couble bass) and Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistle), Casey and Doyle forge an Irish-American folk music that transcends its genre to become great. Karan Casey’s little-girl vocals float like a seagull above Doyle’s guitar, which dances upon the surface of the sea, both stormy and serene. His oft-imitated trademark strummage and fingerstyle remain, as always, unnassailable; likewise his voice both strong and smooth. The mostly-traditional material is lively and bittersweet, as good  Irish music should be, and one of the songs (Exiles Return) is a rare John Doyle original. Arguably the top Irish vocalist and the top Irish guitarist offer here a poignant collection of songs that is already garnering airplay from folk DJs. Fiddlefreak recommended!

LISTEN: The False Lady (MP3)

LISTEN: Sailing Off to the Yankee Land (MP3)

Karan Casey Website

John Doyle Website