Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum

Today marks the release date of Skippin’ and Flyin’ from Laurie Lewis (Spruce and Maple Music). Yes, this is yet another Bill Monroe tribute record on the 100th anniversary of his birth. God knows there were enough of those this year (and every year, in the humble opinion of ole Fiddlefreak). The Father of Bluegrass continues to spawn oodles of traditional bluegrass bands that adhere strictly to his original formula, and even his repertoire. But not Laurie. With her musical partner Tom Rozum, she has established her own smooth-yet-rootsy style that integrates West Coast bluegrass, folk, swing, old-time country and her earth-friendly originals. Kinda like Bill Monroe did.

Says Laurie: “It’s an ongoing thread in my musical life. I fell in love not just with the music, but with the vehicle for the music. I just love a string band,” she adds with a laugh. “A string band of versatile players can do just about anything — they can follow me just about wherever I want to go.”

LISTEN: Carter’s Blues

LISTEN: A Lonesome Road

Skippin’ and Flyin’ is an amazing and satisfying listen, chock full of bluegrass classics as well as little-known chestnuts that deserve the exposure. The album’s title comes from Old Ten Broeck, a signature Bill Monroe piece that Laurie reworked from various sources, and the opening track. Extensive liner notes reveal an essay from Laurie on her inspiration for this project, as well as lyrics and some surprising guest appearances (from Linda Ronstadt to Nadine Landry of Foghorn fame). With sources that include Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Rodgers, Maybelle Carter, Utah Phillips, Bill Monroe, and herself, she has produced a fine bluegrass record by inspiring top shelf string players to a new level. Kinda like Bill Monroe did.

Laurie Lewis Website

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Irish mandolin genius Marla Fibish may be relatively unknown outside California, but she certainly deserves fame for the warm, lilting lift she gives to traditional tunes. In recent years she has been playing out more, performing with her trio Three Mile Stone and teaching classes and workshops. Her new release “The Morning Star” finds Marla and her old Gibson mando taking a joyful romp through traditional tunes that include slip jigs, reels, polkas, waltzes, and planxties. The breadth and depth of this collection should finally bring Marla the recognition she deserves as a master of Irish-style mandolin.

Marla teamed up with the legendary Jimmy Crowley to create this unique and delightful recording of Irish music played only on double-strung instruments. Though the world knows Jimmy as a great singer, this is an all instrumental album featuring traditional tunes of all sorts, along with an original or two from each of them, played on mandolin, mandola, mandocello, bouzouki, and a big bass bouzouki called a dordán. The project was hatched over an evening of playing tunes together at Marla’s house on one of Jimmy’s trips through the Bay Area back in 2009, and recorded in three busy days in April 2010. Fiddlefreak recommended!

LISTEN:

The Humors Of Bandon / A Fig For A Kiss / The Dusty Miller

LISTEN:

The Rocky Road To Dublin / Comb Your Hair And Curl It / The New Mown Meadow

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Marla Fibish Website

Jimmy Crowley Website

Colleen Raney

The dark and rainy Pacific Northwest continues to produce an endless stream of brilliant folk music, and it was on display everywere at the recent Northwest Folkife Festival. The seething mass of humanity that is NW Folkife was held recently in downtown Seattle, in the shadow of her famous landmark, the Space Needle. Folkies came out in droves to this event, from raucous tatooed crusties to polished professionals, picking and sawing and dancing and singing, an estimated quarter-million in all, over four days.

Lark

Singer Colleen Raney was one of the polished ones, mesmerizing the crowded plaza with her lilting songs of the Irish and Scottish traditions. In a hectic backstage environment, guitarist Casey Neill kindly passed along copies of her two albums. Both are absolutely lovely, as was her stage show: her singing angelic and her backing band culled from the royalty of the Portland Irish music scene. Here are two selections from her new release titled “Lark.” Recommended for all fans of traditional Celtic song!

LISTEN: Patrick Street

LISTEN: Otterburn

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Chris Thile & Michael Daves

The third installment of Fiddlefreak’s series on new mandolin-guitar duos features a record from Chris Thile and Michael Daves titled Sleep with One Eye Open and released today on Nonesuch Records. We all know mando virtuoso Chris Thile from his days with Nickel Creek and more recently the Punch Brothers, but Michael Daves may not be as familiar to most folks.  Not many guitarists could keep up with Thile lick-for-lick, but Daves does just that, and sings his heart out as well. In fact these two guys manage to bring a deliciously frantic, young-punk enegy to a repertoire usually reserved for staid, middle-aged bluegrassers. One Eye Open is my favorite release so far this year.

Sleep with One Eye Open

In August 2005, Thile met Daves at a mid-week bluegrass jam at the Baggot Inn in NYC. Says Daves,  “We went to places musically, even in that first meeting, that I had never gone to with other players, so it was really exciting just for that experience itself, to be so pleasantly surprised at how much Chris had to offer beyond his technical prowess, beyond the very clean presentation of Nickel Creek. He was really going for it.”

Recorded live to tape over four days at Jack White’s Third Man studio in Nashville, TN, the album is a collection of 16 traditional tunes by bluegrass legends like The Monroe Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Flatt & Scruggs. Says Thile, “Jack was really, really generous and let us cut the whole record at his place on his beautiful two-inch eight-track machines. It was just so much fun, man, like records ought to be—all ribbon mics and not that many of ‘em, and singing into just one RCA 77. It’s just like we do live, huddled around a microphone doing our best.

“It was important for us was to get that brother duet thing, but with this Lower East Side punk energy. One of the most enjoyable things about this experience was to underline the slightly delinquent side of bluegrass.”

LISTEN: My Little Girl in Tennessee

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The Twilite Broadcasters

Welcome to the second installment of my ongoing mini-series on old-time mandolin duets. I’m reviewing new releases that feature mandolin and guitar duos performing vintage pieces from the golden era of brother duets (ie. Monroe Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, Blue Sky Boys). This week’s post references “Evening Shade,” the latest release from the Twilite Broadcasters (Adam Tanner on vocals, mandolin, and fiddle, and Mark Jackson on vocals and guitar).

Evening Shade delivers just the right mix of old-time country, early bluegrass, and even a couple fiddle tunes. With a dash of reverb in the mix, the sound at times invokes the Everly Brothers and hints at the connections between bluegrass and early rockabilly, even though the songs remain ever faithful to the brother-duet formula: Gibson mandolin, small-body flattop box, and close harmony. Here are two cuts from “Evening Shade.” Enjoy!

Evening Shade

LISTEN: Long Time Gone

LISTEN: Salt River

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The Twilite Broadcasters from Adam Tanner on Vimeo.