Works Progress Administration – “You Will Always Have My Love”
Posted on | December 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
1. To call Works Progress Administration a supergroup might be an understatement. Led by Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket), Luke Bulla (Lyle Lovett, Jerry Douglas Band) and Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, they have a phenomenal amount of talent just in their frontline. Backed by Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers, Pete Thomas and Davey Faragher from Elvis Costello’s band, and pedal steel player Greg Leisz (who produced Dave Alvin’s King of California), WPA is deeper than most NBA teams. However, a large amount of talent does not necessarily make a great record. Luckily, they have Rick Rubin sideman Jim Scott at the helm, and his ability to direct musical traffic shines on the first single from their self-titled album “You Will Always Have My Love”.
2. Though Phillips’ forgiving words are no slouch, the undeniable star of the song is the indelible opening riff, first announced by Bulla and Sara Watkins’ twin fiddles, then echoed by Leisz and Tench in the second go-round. Jim Scott makes the four instruments share a run of notes is a testament to his skill, though Phillips’ lyrics bolster the nostalgic feeling. Building the metaphor of a burning house, Phillips admittedly takes half of the credit for its’ demise. The chorus, however, is reassuring, with Phillips peeling back the layers of tears and scars to reveal his continuing, if not active support and affection. Though the chorus is immediate and meaningful, it serves almost as a pre-chorus to the re-entry of the main theme. He continues to forgive his old partner of wrongdoings since their split, stopping just short of asking for reconciliation.
3. Some may argue that this doesn’t quite fit into the country genre — though whatever Phillips lacks in vocal twang, his band makes up for in spades with the twin fiddles (a dying art), pedal steel, and strong songwriting. Without all the instrumentation, the song would still demand respect, which is the reason this works. With such a stellar cast of players, a good song gets taken to another level. By doing that, WPA exceeds the sum of its parts, which contain more talent than most bands have to offer as a whole.
Works Progress Administration – You Will Always Have My Love
Album Review: Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend
Posted on | November 10, 2009 | No Comments
1. When I first heard that Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch were switching places in their informal arrangement usually billed as “Gillian Welch”, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would it be like the Esquires, the rare electric incarnation of the duo? Would Gillian sing at all? Now that I’ve heard A Friend of a Friend, I feel foolish for expecting Dave and Gillian to reinvent the wheel — what they have going is impossible to duplicate. Not that there aren’t new ideas on this record — a string section and a group of horns make an appearance, to great effect. On A Friend of a Friend, Rawlings and Welch show that they can let Dave’s fresh tenor lead the way and harness the frenetic energy of his solos and retain the same musical integrity that has defined their career.
2. “Ruby”, which opens the record, spins a Rapunzel-type tale over a vintage sounding string section topped off by the pair’s aching harmonies (aided by Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor). Secor’s fiddle slyly creeps in with the orchestral strings, as the song reaches an peak with Benmont Tench’s organ swells. The spectral atmosphere quickly ends as the band scoots into Dave’s take on “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)”, which he co-wrote with Ryan Adams. The song forgoes Adams’ thin wild mercury sound for a more traditional sound that keys off the tension between Rawlings and Welch’s voices. When they hit the bridge, there are few better sounds in music than the major seventh harmony (which they also contributed to Adams’ version on Heartbreaker).
3. Rawlings contributes a stripped down take on “I Hear Them All”, which makes the song more of a dream than the marching reality of the version recorded by Old Crow Medicine Show. A mashup of Conor Oberst’s “Method Acting” and Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer” follows, and they just sound good together. Young’s tale of imperialism and Oberst’s celebration of musical escapism don’t have a lot in common, but Rawlings makes that not matter so much, with the first (and only) extended guitar break on the record showing his raw mastery of the instrument.
4. The gentle “Sweet Tooth” and the rollicking “It’s Too Easy” celebrate the simpler things in life, while “How’s About You” deals with current economic uncertainties in a typical homespun fashion, as Rawlings sings “Used to have a dollar, gonna have a dime someday.” A bit of New Orleans creeps in with the horns on “Monkey and the Engineer”, which tells the childlike story about a stolen locomotive, and the album finishes with the dreamlike “Bells of Harlem”, which I went into detail about last week.
5. As Dave and Gillian have evolved their traditional sound to the primitive, near-rock heard on Welch’s last solo record Soul Journey, they have stuck to the music that they like — traditional songs that emphasize their powerful, raw approach to singing and guitar. A Friend of a Friend shuffles the deck, but doesn’t stop the force of their work. These songs aren’t fleeting, trendy, or subject to the outside world. Rather, they take time to create and, as this album proves, are worth the wait.
Dave Rawlings Machine – Ruby (live)
Rosanne Cash – “Sea of Heartbreak”
Posted on | October 13, 2009 | 2 Comments
1. By now, Rosanne Cash’s new record The List has been pored over by critics, previewed by NPR, and released a week ago. Her renditions of songs from her father’s list of 100 essential songs provide new insight into classic American standards, with warm production by her husband, John Leventhal. One of these songs, Don Gibson’s “Sea of Heartbreak”, was also covered by her father on his second American Recordings release Unchained. The two versions of Gibson’s terribly lonely classic are very different, but both seem to serve the song equally well. Rosanne brings in Bruce Springsteen to assist on background vocals, while her father had Tom Petty (and the Heartbreakers) backing him on much of that entire record. As for whose version is better? That is up to you to decide.
2. Johnny Cash’s work with Rick Rubin stands as a testament to both artist and producer, with Cash’s strong baritone hovering over Rubin’s crisp, acoustic based arrangements. Petty’s drawled count-off leads into a jangly rendition with all the American Recordings’ hallmarks – triangle, layered acoustic guitars, and booming piano fills. Petty has always been underrated as a background singer, a role he displayed on Bob Dylan’s 1986 True Confessions tour, where he and his band opened for the legend, then served as his backing band. His thin tenor lilts over Cash’s recitation, while Benmont Tench’s organ provides a perfect warmth to the track. Rubin, who also produced Petty’s Wildflowers, provides a similar sound here, with the bright accompaniment a worthy foil to Cash’s unmistakable voice.
3. Leventhal and Rosanne take a different approach, with an airy keyboard and a twangy, reverb-heavy guitar providing the only accompaniment before Rosanne’s distinctive alto breaks the ethereal mood. Bruce’s voice is in full croon mode that he showed on Magic’s “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”, more deep-vibrato Roy Orbison than the gritty howl that Springsteen fans are used to. A change of chords on the chorus creates a descending, tension-building pattern that echo the narrator’s desperation. Springsteen’s solo turn on the bridge over a lightly strummed guitar makes it a true duet, rather than just a background cameo.
4. It is hard to pick a favorite of these two tunes. Rosanne’s version is more adult contemporary, similar to a rendition that Sting might turn out if he were prone to covering American classics. Her father’s version is more of an update of his traditional country sound mixed with the Traveling Wilburys (of which Petty was an integral part). Maybe both can be enjoyed without picking a favorite, but in case you haven’t heard either, listen to them below and let me know which version you favor in the comments.
Johnny Cash (with Tom Petty) – Sea of Heartbreak
Rosanne Cash (with Bruce Springsteen) – Sea of Heartbreak