To remember guitarist Jack Rose on the anniversary of his death, filmmaker Jesse Sheppard has released a never-before-seen clip of Rose playing "Kensington Blues."
Jesse Sheppard took the newly-released footage for his 2010 documentary The Things We Used to Do, which featured performances by Jack Rose and Glenn Jones. The footage was never used in the final cut of the documentary, but has been released on the anniversary of Rose's death to commemorate the esteemed guitarist.
   -by Amber von Nagel

   

Sean Smith – Huge Fluid Freedom

Guest review brought to you today by Andrew Hammond

This rather ambitious sounding album title provides the first clue as to what you’re in for once you hit the play button on your CD player, or for you cool cats, release the turntable needle. Through Huge Fluid Freedom Sean Smith demonstrates that he is clearly a man with little concern for genre boundaries and refreshingly he seems determined to create the soundscapes he wants to hear, rather than worrying about album continuity or our external expectations. The album is also a reflection of where Sean Smith is in his career. He’s probably best known for his American Primitive acoustic guitar work, but a quick look at his discography reveals he has, in recent years, usually had an electric guitar strapped around his neck. This album is the latest, and perhaps boldest, in a line which has gradually introduced electric guitar to acoustic guitar and given the pair a free reign over 35 minutes of soon to be disturbed silence.

The album introduces itself with ‘I Know You’re Tired, But Come. This is the Way’. A slow ambient droning intro is interrupted by a rather ugly and disjointed riff reminiscent of Shellac at their most abrasive. It feels as though its role and responsibility is to grab the listener and shake them hard, dispelling any preconceived idea that Sean Smith will be performing an acoustic track today.

With that out the way the track embarks on an exploration of the ambience that can be created with several overlays of electronic feedback and vocals, anchored by simple acoustic riff whose insistence and attitude becomes a real centrepiece for this darkly cinematic track.

If track one is the ‘fluid’, then track two is the ‘huge’. The acoustic takes a step back here as ‘The Real’ opens with an incredible wail of dissonant electric guitar.  Throughout the piece Sean demonstrates the control he has over a whirl of feedback, reverb and phase as he slowly reigns in the electric guitars allowing for moments of calm, before releasing yet another wall of sound.

Just as we’ve forgot about the acoustic guitar the album turns surprisingly to a solo acoustic track with a lovely clockwork feel. The undertones of dissonance are still there, but it’s overlaid by far more sweet melodies than we have been treated to so far, the melodies springing out of the second movement of the piece being a particular favourite of mine. At 10 minutes long this track explores several different ideas and is more like a mini musical suite of its own.

Not to be outdone, the final track is an example of how an electric guitar (with a few overlays and effects) can hold its own in a solo setting. Fittingly for the album titled track, the anthem like riffs found at its center are perhaps the most original on the album and most likely reveal the style of future Sean Smith albums, unless he finds yet another corner of music to explore first.

Overall, the album is a surprising, perhaps hard to get hold of, mix of sounds. Whilst it might not tickle the average Delta Slider reader in all the right spots, it’s great to hear an acoustic artist showing what they are capable of in other areas of music. Perhaps only Glenn Jones, via Cul-De-Sac, has a history of branching out this far from traditional folk.  Huge Fluid Freedom is certainly going to stay near the top of my music collection as I find myself wanting to listen again to the grit of ‘I Know You’re Tired, But Come. This is the Way’ and indisputable size of ‘The Real’ amongst all the other gems in there.

Pick it up at Strange Attractors Audio House
Visit Sean Smith on the web
     

Yair Yona - World Behind Curtains

It usually takes me a couple times to process a new collection of music.  I like to let it sit on the aural palate for a bit to get a handle on it.  Yair Yona's sophomore effort, World Behind Curtains is no different.  My emerging feeling was that this was a movie soundtrack.  But after a listen or two that didn't seem quite right.  Sure, it's cinematic, sweeping and gorgeous.  But there's more.

The opening track was speaking to me like an overture of life.  It sounds like a journey.  And the opening piece struck me as a composite of life, everything is humming along nicely and suddenly reality comes barging in.  No matter, Yona keeps pickin' and grinin' because like all of us, what choice do we have?

As I continued to listen to this effort I couldn't help but feel that each piece was emblematic of the stages of life we all go through.  A fascinating journey populated by Yona's unique and inventive arrangement of instruments ranging from string quartets to bouzouki to electric guitar.  And all of this nicely anchored by his influences.

Yona likes to get his heroes, his influences, all right out in the open.  His first release had a song paying tribute to John Fahey.  In this release Glenn Jones and Leo Kottke both get mentions in song titles.

This release is no surprise when you listen to Skinny Fists and Russian Dance form his first release, Remember. Should have seen this coming.  But who knew he would be so fantastically good at it?

Everyone interested in the American Primitive genre needs to sit up and take notice of this release.  This is a beautiful effort and frankly there is nothing primitive about it.  The music is mature, confident and, thankfully as fresh as anything in the realm of this style to be found out there!

World Behind Curtains hits the streets Feb. 14th.

Pre-order now, also listen to streaming...oh and limited edition vinyl!

Strange Attractors Audio House

Yair Yona

Yair Yona - New Release Coming Soon

Yair Yona is set to release his latest effort "World Behind Curtains," Feb. 14th for Strange Attractors Audio House.

Go to Yona's site for a free download of the new single!

In case you aren't familiar with Yair Yona you should know that he is very prolific and always has plenty of music out there for the listening.  Below is a small sample to get you by till the release date of the new CD/LP/MP3.  Oh yes...vinyl!

La Feira De Sevilla by Yair_Yona

Poetry Night In Valhalla by Yair_Yona

Also, if you haven't downloaded this authorized live bootleg, you can get it HERE.

   

Chuck Johnson - A Struggle Not a Thought

Chuck Johnson's classical tilt, virtuoso touch and brilliant compositional skills have been unleashed on the solo guitar audience.  The 12-string guitar pieces really are the work of a virtuoso. Chuck Johnson’s picking is clean, exact and pure.  Certainly the production work is equally to be credited here, some of these pieces I feel as though Johnson is sitting right in front of me coaxing these amazing compositions from wood and wire.

These are pieces to get lost in, relatively short trips to another place. Fortunately Johnson doesn't needlessly extend the pieces to the point where the listener just ends up lost. "A Slender Thread" is a gorgeous, gorgeous piece that immediately transported me to a sun kissed meadow with shafts of sunlight cutting through the sky. In the middle of the song I checked the title and it made me wonder what wonderful event was just a thread from happening.

Johnson has a real lyrical touch that is displayed in piece after beautiful piece.  Johnson manages to play everything perfectly and yet emotionally as well.  This is such a strong effort that I actually think the last couple cuts are my favorite.  There are so many releases out there that just kind of peter out as the last few songs play.  Not this one.  This is far and away my album of the year so far.

A very small detail I noticed while browsing his bandcamp page was a tag list that included "ackerman," could that be William Ackerman?  I certainly hope so, I love to see Ackerman getting his long overdue proper respect.



The excellent blog Work and Worry interviewed Johnson last summer and I was struck by his very thoughtful and dead-on description of the term "American Primitive."

The aspects of that term that I relate to suggest a practice of making music that liberates the guitar from an accompaniment role, with a decidedly American attitude of making the rules up as you go.

And he goes on, you really ought to read the interview, very good stuff.

I hope you will head over to Strange Attractors Audio House and buy the LP or CD of this release.  And be sure to visit the Bandcamp page for digital sales.  And visit anyway as Johnson is offering a free d/l of "What a friend we have in Jesus/Kensington Blues" that is not on this release.

Visit Chuck Johnson HERE

Arborea – Red Planet

Red Planet opens with a short instrumental track of solo guitar, The Fossil Sea, that rather fittingly sets the tone for the whole CD. Subdued, tense, mysterious and teetering on the edge of this world and another.

You can count on Shanti Curran’s instantly recognizable vocals to complete the transition into the other world. Between her vocals and the excellent treatment they get in production, you are gently yet firmly escorted into gauzy ether.

Buck and Shanti will play anything and everything with strings to get the sound and feel that they want. Shanti’s banjo style is minimalistic and restrained no foolish light speed pickin’ here! And a lot of the attraction to this effort for me is the diverse line up of stringed instruments.

Spain is a particularly stand out piece. Helena Espvall’s haunting cello is in perfect synchronicity with the guitar work, precise and yet so achingly human. An absolutely beautiful piece and probably my favorite vocal work by Shanti.

In fact everything on this disc is so well fit together, melded into a musical whole that you dare not play only a select song or rearrange the track list. Please do not put this into shuffle on your player, you might well rend the time and space of our universe!

They aren’t afraid to stray from the plucked song, Red Planet is a soundscape that continues the tension and mystery of the effort as a whole, ideally placed between the vocal efforts that bookend it.

After 51 minutes of being under the Arborea spell you might wonder where you’ve been. It’s a time spent in another world, it feels a bit frightening but irresistible.

Careless Love by Strange Attractors

An interesting local note for me is that Taylor Mesple is credited with taking part in the engineering of the disc. Mesple’s father owns a local guitar shop and headed the band Wind Machine for many years. Taylor and his brother were members of the band at a very young age when I saw them playing and I was impressed with how good the two were, they had to be in their early teens. Glad to see he’s keeping good company.

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Jack Rose's 1997 Island Koa Slide Guitar

by Buck Curran

photo by Buck Curran

This summer Shanti and I visited Glenn Jones and took photos of Jack's guitars in Glenn's back yard. It was quite surreal looking at those instruments in the afternoon sun and thinking never again would Jack conjure music out of those bodies of wood and steel. The most curious thing I noticed when looking at all the guitars; underneath the strings on the top between the soundhole and bridge, a patch of white residue that looks like violin bow rosin. I hadn't noticed this before, but I guess most of the time hanging out with Jack was in room lighting. Glenn informed me that for the longest time he didn't know what it was either, but after sometime realized it was the residue from Jack's white thumb picks. I had to laugh when I thought about Jack shredding his thumbpick as he fingerpicked, but it holds testament to Jack's attack on the strings and the strength of his hands. Of course, not so hard to understand when watching him perform or when listening to his records. His right hand was a beautiful thing of power and precision. 

photo by Buck Curran

Jack's guitars include two Taylor dreadnoughts, but the significant guitar of the batch is a unique handmade slide guitar. A Weissenborn style lap guitar made of very lightly figured Hawaiian Koa and featuring a metal saddle and nut. The instrument, serial number 97099 Island Koa Instruments was made in 1997 by English luthier Pete Howlett. This guitar can be heard on Jack's best recordings, and the piece Now That I'm a Man Full Grown II from the 2005 release Kensington Blues is a perfect example of the dynamics and power he could summon with this instrument. There is also some great footage of Jack playing this guitar on the highly recommended DVD The Things We Used to Do released by Strange Attractors Audio House this year. 

One thing is for certain...Jack really loved and cared for his guitars. Looking at his Island Koa (though the finish is worn) and both Taylor guitars, I noticed they are structurally in great shape. He may have played hard, but it was the strings that took the blissful punishment. Jack and I exchanged quite a few emails over the years, talking about guitars a lot of the time I really got to know what his preferences were when it came to acoustic guitars. I was building a guitar for him when he passed. I really felt like I could've built him the perfect guitar and it's sad to think we'll never be able to finish that collaboration. It's very clear when thinking about Jack himself and when listening to his music...the World is a much better place for the Life that Jack put in it while he was here. He will be missed always!
~Buck Curran 8 December 2010

Buck and Shanti Curran are the Indie folk dou Arborea 

and are working on a new release.

Jack Rose & Glenn Jones - New DVD Review

If you haven't seen the trailer for this yet, check it out.

As you can see, it’s very nicely shot with some great angles on the playing. It definitely has plenty of good camera work for the guitar geek in me. I love the pans across the strings, especially that low E string when it’s been tuned down to C and is floppin’ all over the place.

The DVD kicks things off with two duets,

Linden Ave Stomp and
Miss May’s Place

Then Jack takes over for the first studio section. First up are the lap slide songs,
Gage Blues
Revolt
Levee and
Song for the Owl

Rose switches to the 6-string and performs
Dusty Grass
Fishtown Flower
The World Has Let Me Down
Kensington Blues and
Blessed be the Name of Lord

Rose gave up playing the 12 string at some point of his career, so we don’t get to see him play that instrument. But it’s all good because Glenn Jones is up next and takes us thru his world of bizarre 12 string tunings and partial capos. In some ways it’s surprising that these guys played together when you see them play in this DVD, there’s a real shift in the feel as you are watching this video. We go from Rose’s muscular playing that is very bluesy to Jones with the more expansive, longer, intricate pieces, nearly all from the recently released “Barbecue Bob in Fishtown.”

Jones starts us off with
Redwood Ramble Misremembered
Barbecue Bob in Fishtown
1337 Shattuck Avenue, Apartment D
A Geranium for Mano-a-Mano
David and the Phoenix and
A Lark in Earnest
The last song is new territory for Glenn, a piece for the banjo.

At this point we get to see some concert footage of the two, playing separately, in a club in Philly. Continuing with Jones in the live performance we get two more songs from “Barbecue Bob in Fishtown” and that just about covers the entire release! The live set is three songs, one each on 6-string, banjo and a slide medley on a reso-guitar.

Jones plays

Dead Reckoning
Keep it 100 Years
Medley: Island 1 / Against my Ruin

Rose performs an equally diverse set

Cross the North Fork
Luck in the Valley

St. Louis Blues

Closing out the DVD is an interview with the two musicians. This may be my favorite part of the entire DVD. I have always been rooted in the acoustic guitar. I’m not sure I can get into any deep philosophical reason for it. It’s always just been the instrument that spoke to me. Even before I discovered the blues of Mississippi John Hurt, Ackerman’s stuff and of course Fahey, I was in love with the acoustic. I always loved the rock songs that had am acoustic base to them. Like the backbone of Heart’s “Crazy on You” and Led Zepplin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” I don’t know if it’s the clichéd sounding “well it’s organic” or what there is about it. But while I have always really appreciated the electric and the power it wields, when it gets down to it I would rather play an acoustic.

So I really identify with how Rose talks about starting off on the acoustic and eventually coming back to it with all that electric playing in the middle. As much as I love electric players of all kinds I want to listen to it more than play it.

Name dropping is always a useful part of any interview to discover new artists. Byron Coley even mentions Ragtime Ralph!

Glenn talks quite a bit about driving Robbie Basho around on an east coast tour, very interesting. The highlight might be Glenn’s impersonation of Fahey, it’s quite funny.

And DO NOT miss the discussion of “pussy chords.” According to Rose: Glenn uses “pussy chords,” hilarious!

This is a fantastic deal for the money. Nearly two hours of great music and a 37 minute interview. This DVD really has it all, duets, solo performances by each, both “studio” and in a live setting and to top it all off, an interview of the two.

Head on over to Strange Attractors Audio House and pick up this DVD ! Regular shipping is free, even the big river company can't beat this price.

Keep on pickin' and grinin'!

   

Yair Yona - Remember

“Originally issued in 2009 on Anova, Remember received rave rumblings from the grassroots steel string blogs and fan sites, finding its way into the circle of steel-string heads. Reissued via our Resurrection Series…” So says the one page on Strange Attractors Audio House…I like to think I’m one of those blogs. I got in on the ground floor with this release, waaaaay back in the old days when Yona was actually giving this away. Know what? I bought it anyway. My post was a bit late and despite being captivated immediately by the music, I didn’t give it much of a review.

Time for a proper review. Not sure what the current releases include but the copy I received from the other side of the world has plenty of liner notes with tunings, inspiration and even a note on the composition where Yona dared declare to himself and the world that he is ‘only’ a guitar player (rather than a singer/songwriter). 

The CD as a whole is impressive on many levels. It’s an incredibly strong work for a debut. All the compositions are original and Yona lays down a great mix of solo acoustic work (on 6 and 12 strings and slide too) and modern, multi-instrumental pieces. And as I mentioned the first time I posted about this…the production is really top-notch.

Remember is the opening tune and you might wonder for a moment if you really have a Takoma influenced work playing or…what? And then the Weissenborn kicks in. Nice piece with just a hint of synth.

Pharaoh is a slide tune that I liked the minute it started with a low, growling slide full of muscle. It quickly transforms into a brisk-paced piece that is going well just before the two minute mark. Suddenly it’s teetering on the ridiculous until he plays the perfect conclusion to that dangerously ridiculous phrase. Frankly I still remember the first time I heard the song and I thought, oh he’s done it now, no way out of this! But he makes it work so well and this is still a favorite of mine.

Russian Dance just grabs me right away with the rock solid thumb. A rather daring piece when it comes to cranky guys like me. You start throwing in too many instruments and drowning out the guitar and I’m probably done with you. However, Yona does it right on this one with accordion, banjo and mandolin all chiming in on this rollicking song. It works on every level for me, the mess of all the instruments vying for attention as the piece builds and the tight playing by Yona, especially coming out of the crescendo is perhaps one of the aspects that make this piece work so well.

Strange Attractors Audio House is also offering this tune as a free mp3: Brave Walls
Speaking of free goodies, I highly suggest you sign up for Yona's newsletters as they usually include some alt. mix, demo or work in progress. 

In addition there are some bluesy tunes Broken Rockin’ Chair and Struggled So Hard (with some well placed electric guitar) with the occasional (and welcome) clack of the slide on the guitar.

We get a little more synth on Are You Smarter than a 35 Year Old TV Host? And then unabashed tributes to John Fahey on Floodgate Opens to Allow a Ship to Come Through (As it Carries the Passenger Fahey on It) and Jack Rose with Sympathy for the Jack.

The CD wraps with Skinny Fists, an ambitious, symphonic piece, and again one that dares me to turn it off.  But I didn't and I don't think you will either.  For one thing he places the piece correctly in the tracking. Pieces that veer outside the ‘feel’ of a CD can often ruin the listening, especially the first impression when most of us listen from beginning to end. An adventurous piece is often well placed as a closer. If your fans made it that far you’ve likely reeled them in for your experimental trip, turns out it’s the perfect conclusion piece.

Keep in mind that SAAH is offering a limited pressing of vinyl as well for you old-timers/youngsters that are (re)starting your record collection. Still a CD guy like me? Cool, either way, buy it! He’s already working on the next release.

Remember, the Album

Strange Attractors Audio House

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Sean Smith - Eternal

Last year Sean Smith was featured in the March issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.  No mean feat when you look at the usual coverage they give the acoustic guitar world.   Smith and his ilk were written up as the “underground” movement in the unsung genre of psyche folk, avant acoustic, call-it-what-you-like music. 

Is a guy that releases a limited edition pressing of 300 Lp’s part of the underground?  I suppose so.  But that August 2007 release on Gnome Life Records is now available on Strange Attractors Audio House.  “Eternal” is Sean Smith’s first foray into collaborative music.

And Smith puts the listeners on notice immediately with the opening tune, “Topinambour” with bongos kicking in after the opening chord.  This song has an Eastern feel full of percussion so despite my concerns about Smith doing a CD with other instruments, I love percussion and the opening song relieved my initial doubt.

Smith shares a lot of the guitar duties on this album with his buddy from Berkley, Adam Snider.  I really enjoyed Snider’s contributions to this effort, I haven’t heard enough from him since the release of Berkeley Guitar.

Snider also contributes some banjo.  

Other musicians on the disc include Spencer Owen – bongos, shakers, claves, sandpaper blocks, electric bass and drums.

Fletcher Tucker – mountain dulcimer, handclaps.

Angela Hsu – violins.

Smith even tempts the purists with a solo piece on the nylon string guitar as well as playing electric guitar, Weissenborn and reed organ.

"Goat Seer" is a great little piece with just Smith on Weissenborn and Snider on guitar.

The real test for me on this disc oddly enough is titled, “The Real.” Once again my doubt is renewed when I see banjo and violin listed for the song. Getting me to appreciate almost anything with banjo or violin is a chore and Smith accomplished this easily with “The Real.” In fact, this currently my favorite song on the CD. It’s a song that seems to ramble about with the various instruments weaving their way in and out of the landscape. It has quite a loose feel to it, as though any one of the musicians may go tumbling out of the ragged tempo any minute and ruin the whole song. Part of what makes it so fun to listen to is the tension created by that ragged feel, the song is barely holding together.

So far so good, but I do have some minor criticisms: the package is a bit light on liner notes, I love to read about the make of guitar and tunings, a little more info about each song is appreciated. But these are minor complaints.

Up next is “Holly,” a piece that starts off with acoustic and quickly accelerates to pounding drums and screaming electric guitar. It just as quickly plummets back to a solo acoustic guitar section. I don’t feel this song fit very well into the release, it rather upset the experience of the album as a whole.

TRACKS

“Topinambour”

“Palak Paneer”

"Goat Seer"

“The Real”

“Holly”

“Prompter or Conscience”

“Greeting, Death, Love. (Excerpts)”

Smith eventually does go solo for the last two pieces, not that they are single instrumental pieces; just that he plays all the instruments himself.

“Prompter or Conscience” features Smith on the reed organ and Weissenborn and has an Eastern feel to it. Smith’s slide work on this piece is typical of his polished technique yet he also manages to make it feel as though he was in a contemplative and improvisational mood when he recorded this. It sounds amazingly free and lacking composition, in a good way!

“Greeting, Death, Love. (Excerpts)” is as close as you are going to get to a solo performance on this effort. Smith leads us down the solo steel string path for a good 7 minutes before transitioning to nylon string guitar. Whoa, as if he hasn’t messed with the genre enough here he’s got to get all classical on me. Actually it’s an excellent transition that allows Smith to begin rebuilding the concept of the song on another level before going on to the final crescendo.

It’s a tremendous way of reminding me that Sean Smith is still "of" guitar soli and yet unafraid to mold it to his liking.

Charlie Schmidt - “When The Springtime Comes Again, Again”

I have a nice little surprise for you today. Charlie Schmidt recently sent me a few tracks he wants to share with my readers.

You hard-core Fahey fans probably know of Schmidt's connections to John Fahey. How some of Schmidt's recordings appeared on Takoma/Fantasy Records 2004 release "The Best of John Fahey Vol.2: 1964-1983." Unfortunately Charlie Schmidt is no where to be found in the credits.

There is a good story about it at Chicago Reader.

Graphic Design by Joshua Pfeffer / pfef.com

The recording, Xanthe Terra on Strange Attractors Audio House is the recording mentioned in the article.
I've only recently returned to the world of guitar soli and this was an early find for me. I was still trying to figure out what was out there besides Fahey. Some of my favorites on this disc are Samba de Xanthe Terra, Athabasca Valles Blues, Kanaranzi Waltz, Slavic Mountain and Doggie Blues.

More recently Schmidt also makes an appearance as himself as well as Blind Joe Death himself in the Takoma/Fantasy Records Fahey tribute album "Revenge of Blind Joe Death". One I highly recommend as I found it to be a great jumping off point for discovering a lot of the artists I now follow regularly.

As for what we have here, it's called "When the Springtime Comes Again, Again" a rendering in five movements for steel-string guitar by John A. Fahey, arranged and performed by Charlie Schmidt, recorded December 2008.

Here's what Schmidt has to say about this piece:

“When The Springtime Comes Again” first appeared on John Fahey’s Volume 2: Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes in 1963. It was rerecorded in 1967, then recorded yet again in 1993 by me at Fahey’s invitation. It is a masterpiece of musical economy and composition. Fahey expanded on the basic themes throughout his career, as with “Mark 1:15” on America, and on the Takoma sampler which came out I think in the late 60s. You will find elements in the tracks below from the various sources, plus a measure here and there of my own doing. Although I rearranged the sequences a bit, and took some liberties dividing it into smaller tracks (movements), I deliberately tried to emulate the Fahey sound because I think it sounds best that way. I remember learning it off vinyl in about 1978, and I still find it fresh and remarkable to this day. In any event, I hope you enjoy hearing it again, in its present form, titled “When The Springtime Comes Again, Again”. Tuning is Dropped D.

In addition he's included a bonus track called "Angels Landing." The additional track is a significant variation to "Night Train to Valhalla" he improvised a few weeks ago. Played in dropped D as well.

Folks, this is basically an EP, there's nearly 23 minutes of music here!

Get it HERE

Glenn Jones - WZBC studios March 19, 2007

A few videos of Glenn Jones around the time of the Against Which The Sea Continually Beats release, 2007.  Good stuff if you haven't seen these before.  Or if you have, watch them again!

Be sure you swing back around these parts about midweek.  I'll be doing a little piece on the new Jack Rose & Glenn Jones "The Things That We Used to Do" DVD release and I will have a special offer as well.  Don't miss it!

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