I am super happy to announce that I am releasing a new 3 song EP next week called Midsummer Dialogues. It is a collaboration with guitarist Ross Hammond. 2 voices – guitar & mbira. I can’t wait to share it with you all! Release date will be 11/11/22. More info coming soon!
Lately, my mind and heart have been set spinning by the unexpected and sudden death of my friend Mikail Graham. Of course, it’s impossible to sum up his life or my friendship with him in this little blog post. To say that he was a real giant in our local community would be such be an understatement. His life touched SO many, and my life was enriched by knowing him!! I will try to share a few bits here, specifically about my connection to Mikail in relation to my life as a musical artist.
My wife Juli and I moved to Nevada County in the autumn of 2002. Looking at the local newspaper one day, I saw an article about a CD release concert for Paul Kamm & Eleanore McDonald’s album “Fool’s Paradise” at our local music venue – The Center For the Arts. We were not familiar Paul & Eleanore, but Juli and I were eager to check out local music so we went to the show. We were BLOWN AWAY! It was such a beautiful concert, and we were so moved with Paul & Eleanore’s artistry, vocal blend, and fine songwriting. The evening featured performances by many of the great musicians who played on the album including bassist Rob Bonner, guitarist Steven Holland, pedal steel wizard Pete Grant, and Mikail Graham who played some really great e-bow guitar that night. I have remained a huge fan of Paul & Eleanore’s music ever since.
We ended up taking home a CD copy of “Fool’s Paradise” and discovered that the album was co-produced, mixed, and mastered by Mikail. I was really impressed by the beautiful production. It is such a great record!
Through the years, I would see Mikail perform around town playing many different types of instruments in many genres – but ALWAYS with such artistry and creativity! I would also see him producing shows and at times mixing sound for shows… again always with such class and quality. His long running radio show “The Other Side” on our local radio station KVMR became my absolute favorite! The wild eclecticism of the show could vary from avant-garde free jazz, to Brain Eno, to 70s Krautrock, to obscure 40’s country, and everything in between. Each show had an interesting focus and his DJing/hosting of the show combined crazy wit with lots of heart and soul. His broad eclectic musical tastes paralleled my own.
I had been slowly and steadily working on my first solo album “Soft Sea Creatures” for many years. In early 2014, when I was finally ready to mix this sprawling project, I immediately thought of working with Mikail. I contacted him and was so pleased that he agreed to work with me! So… I then spent many months working with Mikail in his home studio – known as “The Other Studio”. His approach to mixing was a revelation to me. He thoughtfully collaborated with me on each and every sound and nuance of the recording. He encouraged me to take my time listening to each mix/draft that we created on a variety of different systems, and then come back with any tweaks necessary. I cannot express how much I learned by working on this album with him. I never told him, but I always considered him an important mentor.
When I hired Mikail to mix this record with me, I got SO much more than a mixing engineer! As we listened to the tracks, at times we would conclude that something was missing, and he often skillfully added just the right parts on a variety of instruments. I remember when we were working on the mix of “All Together” I had recorded some bass tracks by a local bassist who was an exceptional player. But listening back… we both were lamenting that the parts were just not feeling right. Frustrated, I took a stretch break in another room in the house. When I came back a few minutes later, there was Mikail with his fretless bass in hand…laying down the perfect track and feel! I swear, it was only a matter of minutes and we had the perfect track! In so many ways, his imprint is all over “Soft Sea Creatures”.
About a year or so after the album came out, Mikail generously offered to do a special “Other Side” radio show with me focused on the album. The show was entitled “Inspired Collaborators”. We went into the KVMR studio and broadcast the show live, discussing the making of Soft Sea Creatures, playing album tracks and spotlighting many of the great artists who collaborated with me on the sessions. This was big fun! Doing this show with him would be the first of several radio show collaborations we would do together through the years.
Whenever Mikail would see my daughter Mei Lin playing her fiddle, he was ALWAYS so encouraging to her. I think the first time he saw her play was sometime around 2015 when she was 10 years old and just starting to sit in with my band Tumble. He immediately treated her as a fellow musician. Through the years of seeing her develop musically, he would always comment on how good she sounded. I have seen him do the same in his connection to other young local musicians and so greatly appreciate his encouragement for the next generation of musical artists!
In 2018, my band Tumble finished tracking our second album “Waves”. We decided to mix and master this album with Mikail. My bandmate Sean Kerrigan and I spent many nights over at Mikail’s studio working on this project. We had such a great time collaborating with him. He brought some interesting sonic ideas and touches to the record which really complimented the bands’ use of space in our playing and improvisation. Once again, Mikail’s contribution to “Waves” was so much more than just a good mix!
Through the years of friendship with Mikail, I would often call him with random little questions when working on a mix in my home studio or similarly if I had any issues with my Mac computer. There were so many things that he was SO good at, and he was always very generous with his time and attention. He would often give me little tips or suggestions and I cannot count how many times he helped me in these little ways when I was a stuck on a mixing issue or with technology problems in general.
In 2019, when I was putting together the Bob Dylan “Self Portraits” tribute compilation album, I asked Mikail if he would be interested in contributing a track. At first he was unsure, telling me that it would all depend on whether he found something from the list of eligible songs which resonated with him and inspired him. He ultimately ended up covering Dylan’s “Time Passes Slowly”, which Dylan originally recorded during the Self Portrait sessions but did not end up on the album. Dylan later re-recorded this song and it was included on his 1970 album “New Morning”. Mikail told me that he resonated with the lyrics but had an entirely different musical and sonic arrangement in mind. His version of “Time Passes Slowly” really knocked me out. Mikail found such a unique approach to bringing out the deep sense of longing and nostalgia which are in the lyrics. It is one of my favorite tracks on the album and one of my favorite Dylan covers of all time!
https://robertheirendt.bandcamp.com/track/time-passes-slowly
Shortly after the release of the Self Portraits CD, Mikail offered to do a special episode of “The Other Side” radio show with me highlighting this project. Bob Dylan’s Self Portrait album was primarily a collection of covers. As such, our album is a cover album of a cover album – a mighty strange concept, perhaps! On the radio show, we took the approach of listening to the original version of the song, listening to Dylan’s version, and then the version by the artist off our album. Laying these diverse versions of these great old songs side by side was an interesting way of approaching this material. I felt so lucky to have a friend who could “geek out” on this sort of thing along with me. It was such a special experience for me to do this Other Side show with him!
Back in May, we had planned to work together on a mix of a new project I was working on. Mikail texted me the day before our session, letting me know that we would need to reschedule as he was having some strange symptoms with his vision which he needed to get checked. I called him a few weeks later to see how he was doing. Things had gone from bad to worse in terms of his symptoms and he was currently under the full time care of his partner, Julie Holmes. We talked about his hopes of getting a diagnosis and his desire to get a handle on his health. He ended the conversation with, “Love you lots, man”. This was the last time I spoke to Mikail.
I heard through social media about two weeks later that Mikail had been diagnosed with Genetic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very rare neurological disorder, of which there is sadly no cure. Mikail peacefully passed over to “The Other Side” on 7/12/22. I will miss him greatly and am very thankful for the ways in which his friendship touched my life!
My old friend Scott Wiser just put out a really cool new album with his band Mount Desert. Mount Desert is a collaboration between Scott and drummer Jordan Norton. “Fear the Heart” is their second album. The record is a wild blend of thunderous heavy rock with other-worldly ambience. Scott’s production on this record is stellar! Scott asked my daughter Mei Lin and I to lay down some fiddle and mbira tracks to contribute to the world music influenced tune “The River I”. He took our parts and heavily manipulated them to mix into the sonic stew. I LOVE the way it turned out! We were really happy to be a small part of this production!
I met Scott Weiser back in 2000 when we were both working for a mental health non-profit organization in Oakland. I heard he was a musician, so I quickly got to talking music with him. We connected over several mutual musical interests including Brian Eno, Radiohead, U2, Cocteau Twins and Robert Fripp.
We started jamming from time to time, eventually collaborating on an ambient groove instrumental piece, “Splatter Puddle,” which ended up on my 2014 solo record “Soft Sea Creatures”. On that piece, you can hear his atmospheric e-bow guitar playing.
Back in 2020, I was putting together a Tribute album to Bob Dylan’s “Self Portrait”. I invited Scott to contribute a track, and he chose to cover what is perhaps one of the weirdest songs that Dylan has ever written: “All the Tired Horses”. Scott took the repetition of the tune as inspiration to take a layered loop-based approach. Not only did he contribute this piece to the collaborative album, but his piece was also a springboard for the development an interactive, generative music engine/website. The version of “Horses” on the CD is one instance of a randomly generated version of the piece. Mei Lin and I also contributed some vocals and a few instrumental flourishes which can be heard deep in the sonic layers. Check out Scott’s website and manipulate your own infinite versions of “Horses”! https://travstw.github.io/horses/
Even though we rarely see each other in person nowadays, I am really happy that we occasionally collaborate on musical projects! It’s always big fun!
“Fear the Heart” is available now as a digital download at Bandcamp and is slated for a vinyl release in the coming months. Due to current vinyl supply shortages and lack of pressing plants, the vinyl version may take a while. I encourage you all to check it out here…It is Fab!!
From my vantage point, Tumble has gone through three distinct periods: the trio, the quartet with Bill Douglass, and the current quartet with bass player Rob Holland. Each transition has resulted in distinct changes in the evolution of the sound of the band and its musical direction.
We began playing with Rob Holland in early 2019. Rob has brought so many special new elements and influences to the group. Rob plays a variety of basses with Tumble including acoustic upright bass, electric 4 string bass, electric fretless bass, and most prominently, the electric 6 string bass. The extended range of this instrument has added extra depth to the group’s sound through the extended low end and upper range. Counterpoint of voices has always been an important touchstone of the band’s musical identity. This extended upper bass range at times overlaps with the range of the guitar and mbira, creating new depth in the interplay of voices. Rob’s deep knowledge of Latin based grooves has also served to thicken the group’s influences from the African diaspora. Rob is also a great guy to hang with and we are super happy to be playing with him!
Our album Waves documents the group’s sound during our period of evolution with bassist Bill Douglass. By the time the album was released, Rob had taken over the bass chair in the group. We played a Waves CD release concert at the beautiful Besemer Hall in Nevada City in October of 2019.
This video clip is the first to be released featuring the current incarnation of Tumble. In this clip we are performing a version of my composition “3:32”. I remember waking up in the middle of the night with an angular little motif running through my head. I started to envision some possible structures and arrangements using this little melodic fracture. I remember thinking to myself… “My God, I really should be sleeping right now!” I looked up at my alarm clock and it read 3:32 AM!
Hope you enjoy this clip!
How might I “sum up” the last 2 1/2 years during which I co-created a bluegrass band with my daughter? From starting out as a duo, doing early gigs with some of our musical friends Walter Webb & Randy McKean, connecting with our bassist Karl Chelette and becoming a trio, co-writing songs with wife/mother Juli Marks, and recording our album during the early days of COVID shelter in place. For me, it has been a time of magic for sure! I cannot begin to express in words what a meaningful experience this has all been for me. I am so grateful to have had this special musical connection with my daughter Mei Lin!
In my last blog post, I wrote about the making of Boston Ravine’s album “Ragged Road”. Our album was officially released last April. Now, months later, we are preparing for our much delayed CD release concerts. But this is also a bittersweet occasion, because these concerts are to be our “farewell” shows. From the day Mei Lin and I started Boston Ravine, I realized that this would be a very special – yet limited – space in time. I knew the day would come when she would be more than ready to branch off into other things!
Being able to connect with my daughter in her love for these deep streams of traditional American folk music – bluegrass, country, & gospel – through the creation of this collaborative band, has been one of the most rewarding creative endeavors of my life!
I will never forget the day that we first connected musically with our bassist Karl Chelette. We were at a bluegrass campout in Lodi back in the spring of 2019 which was put on by the California Bluegrass Association. We spotted Karl wheeling an upright bass across the campground. I knew who he was, as he used to play drums in a band with my friend Joe Fajen. I had no idea that he was also a bass player! We called him over to jam with us, and were instantly taken by his strong solid groove and friendly, fun manner. He played his first show with us at The Jerry Bash in August of 2019, and we never looked back from there! Karl is such a fine musician and generous soul. Mei Lin and I could not possibly be more pleased to have had him as a creative partner on this fun, crazy ride!
We are very happy to have our friend Kyle Kunert join us for both of these final Boston Ravine shows on banjo. Kyle is the founder of a fresh local Nevada County bluegrass band, Caltucky. He is deeply rooted in bluegrass and has a unique, soulful approach to the banjo. Kyle is such a great ensemble player and has a great ear! We are super stoked to have him as an honorary Boston Ravine member for these final shows.
It’s also a great honor for us to have our good friend Russell Roe joining us as our mandolin player for the 9/10 show in Grass Valley. Russ and I have been good friends since our college days at Cal State Long Beach. Russ was responsible for really turning me onto bluegrass back in the mid 90s. At that point, I was really enjoying Old & In the Way, but really did not have much other exposure to the true roots of bluegrass. Russ made me a cassette tape of his favorite tracks from Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys. That was the beginning of so much for me! Years later, Russ was instrumental in helping to ignite Mei Lin’s love for bluegrass. Through the years, even after he moved to North Carolina, we would get to hang out with Russ and jam every summer at the California Bluegrass Association’s Father’s Day Festival. We are SO excited that he will be joining us for the Grass Valley gig and are so grateful that he decided to make the trek out here!
On my recent blogpost about the making of our album Ragged Road, I wrote about the soulful playing of dobro player Kathy Barwick. As I shared then, the Glen Campbell/Jeannie Seely song “Senses” is my favorite track off the record. I absolutely love the soulful interplay between Mei Lin’s voice and Kathy’s dobro. They created something extraordinary on that recording! We are super happy to announce that Kathy will be joining us as a special guest for our CD release show at Wild Eye Pub! She is such as wonderful player who we look up to and she has been so generously supportive to our band from the very beginning.
The 9/10/21 show at Wild Eye Pub really feels like a full circle moment to me. We played our very first show there in May of 2019. From the very start, Wild Eye owner Beth Moore has been so supportive of us and has run a top notch local music venue that feels like home to us! I know I speak for our entire local music scene in saying that she has given her very heart and soul to helping make the Nevada County music scene really shine!
So please join us for one of our final shows: – Wild Eye Pub in Grass Valley on 9/10/21 – Lodi Grape Festival on 9/18/21. We hope you will be able to celebrate with us!
My daughter Mei Lin and I started playing bluegrass/old-timey fiddle tunes together around the time that she first played fiddle at 7 years of age. Although she started off learning the Suzuki method, her teacher thankfully also taught her old-time fiddle tunes from the very start. Over time, her passion for bluegrass music overtook her interest in classical music. Once she started learning “Oh Susanna”, “Cripple Creek” etc… I naturally pulled out the old guitar and started playing these tunes with her. This collaboration just naturally evolved through the years. Our living room jams eventually expanded into recording sessions and a few duo performances around town.
Boston Ravine was officially launched in January of 2019 when we put out our first EP. The band really coalesced when bassist Karl Chelette joined in August of ’19. Just prior to COVID hitting, we were planning on recording an album. Even though COVID shut down gigs, we were still able to record during the time of shelter in place and for that I am so grateful!
The recording sessions for “Ragged Road” were quite interesting! We tracked the basic rhythm tracks live with guitar, bass and mandolin chops – all social distancing style! Mei Lin was set up in her bedroom, Karl was in my bedroom and I was in the living room, with doors closed between us all. We were quite the sight – each of us with face masks in separate rooms connected to each other, not visually, but through the grace of condenser mics, XLR cables and headphones.
Throughout the process, our friend and mentor Adam Haynes (fiddler from The Grascals) gave us invaluable feedback and ideas regarding arrangements. We had several Skype sessions with him in which he helped us greatly – from Nashville to Grass Valley in real time! When it comes to recording projects, there are so many benefits to living in the modern age! In addition to this, Adam recorded a twin fiddle part with Mei Lin on “Sweet Karolina”, added some extra guitar to “Keep Your Feet on the Ground,” and mixed a couple of the tunes. We are SO appreciative of all his help on this project and he was so great to collaborate with!
We overdubbed vocals, fiddles, and breaks in our respective home studios. Karl added some hard groovin’ drums to a couple of tracks. Mei Lin did the lion’s share of breaks on this record and was kept quite busy through the early months of COVID shelter in place working on these tracks!
Mei Lin and I have absolutely LOVED playing in this band with our bassist Karl Chelette! He is a brilliant musician, great guy to hang with, and has a rock solid groove which has come to help really define the sound of the band! It was Karl who brought Frank Wakefield’s “New Camptown Races” to the band and it has become a staple of our live shows. On this tune, Karl not only takes breaks on the bass, but also has contributed an extended solo bass intro to the tune. On this part of the record, you can really hear some of Karl’s deep jazz influences. I have always deeply valued streams in music where various traditions and styles come together. Karl achieved this very well in his soulful break, bringing an extra level of depth to the record. Karl added some cool drum parts to “Ridin’ on that Midnight Train” and “Ragged Road”.
While working on several of the songs (“Midnight Train”, “When My Time Comes to Go”, & “My Mama’s Heaven”) , we knew that we wanted some banjo. We decided to bring in multi instrumentalist Max Schwartz. He was able to track his parts from his home studio in Florida. As soon as we heard them, we knew that we had chosen wisely. His tracks really rocked and fit the songs so well!
This family collaboration also included contributions from my wife, and Mei Lin’s mother, Juli Marks. During the summer of ’19, we took a camping trip to Mill Creek, which is very near Lassen National Park. Juli grew up camping with her family every summer at a place called “Hole In the Ground” near where we were camping. This got her mind reeling through childhood memories and family history. She was inspired to write song lyrics which would become “My Mama’s Heaven” and “Sweet Karolina”. Mei Lin wrote the music to “My Mama’s Heaven” and I wrote the music to “Sweet Karolina”. These songs were the first songwriting collaborations between Juli, Mei Lin and I. They add such a personal element to the record!
For “Sweet Karolina”, Mei Lin envisioned and composed a triple fiddle part. She invited her good friend Tessa Schwartz (North Country Blue) and her fiddle teacher Adam Haynes (The Grascals) to play the twin and triple fiddle parts with her. In addition, each fiddler takes backup on one of the song’s three verses. I really love the way the distinct stylings of each musician complement the song and each other throughout the arrangement!
I wrote the album’s title song “Ragged Road” several years ago. This slightly “Johnny Cash-ish” metaphysical country tune just came to me, years before I started to dive deep into playing bluegrass and traditional country music with Mei Lin. Towards the completion of our recording sessions, I played the song for Mei Lin for the first time. It was her inspiration to include this song on the record. I have been in love with the haunting sound of the pedal steel guitar for many years. As soon as we started working on our band arrangement for “Ragged Road”, I knew I wanted to include some pedal steel for this song. We were so thrilled to be able to collaborate with legendary pedal steel player Pete Grant on this track! Pete has recorded with the Grateful Dead (check out his parts on their record “Axomoxoa”) as well as bluegrass legends The Dillards. It was such an honor to work with him and we absolutely love what he did on this track!
For me, the absolute highlight of the record is the one track I virtually had nothing to do with! About a year and 1/2 ago, Mei Lin discovered the country ballad “Senses” which was co-written by Glen Campbell & Jeanie Seeley. Although the song was composed by two huge country stars, Senses was first recorded by Connie Smith in 1965 on her classic album “Cute ’n’ Country”. I absolutely LOVE the way that Mei Lin sings sad country ballads! We wanted to have an expressive and “weepy” musical counterpoint to Mei Lin’s soulful vocal, so we enlisted our friend Kathy Barwick to record some Dobro. The interplay between Mei Lin’s voice and Kathy’s Dobro turned out so incredibly nice! On this track, Mei Lin played the guitar as well.
In all, this album is a real culmination of Boston Ravine’s work as a band – touches of traditional bluegrass, modern bluegrass, gospel, and old school country. I have always had it in the back of my mind to someday make an Americana/roots music album. I am so pleased with how Ragged Road turned out, and it has been a musical highlight of my life to collaborate on this record with my daughter!
Back in the summer of ’19, my family and I decided to go camping at Mill Creek in the Shasta Cascades just south of Lassen with some good friends. My wife Juli had grown up camping with her family every summer at a place called “Hole In the Ground” which is just a few miles from where we were camping. During our stay there, her mind was filled with childhood memories of camping with her extended family. She got inspired to write some song lyrics reflective of those memories.
A few months later, my daughter Mei Lin started working on some music for the lyrics and thus “My Mama’s Heaven” was born. From the very start, it was a song that Mei Lin, Karl (our bassist) and I really loved to play. I especially love the melody of the chorus and really enjoy singing harmonies on this. I think it was such a good choice to be the last song on our upcoming album Ragged Road which is is scheduled to be released on 4/25/21. Perhaps more than any other song on the record, My Mama’s Heaven expresses a real sense of joy!
When we began recording the song, we knew pretty quickly that we needed to have some banjo on this track. We enlisted multi instrumentalist Max Schwartz who added some beautiful banjo tracks to the recording.
The song is about what is most important in life: family, nature, and love. For me, the line “all you need is gathered ‘round” cuts right to the core of the message of this song. A reminder that in this life, what we need and desire most is often right in our midst – right before our very eyes -already attainable – if only we are open enough to receive it!
2020 was a “mindblower” on so many levels! During this time of uncertainty and unexpected changes, music that I listened to played such a crucial part in my emotional and spiritual life. My list of favorite albums for 2020 is “ginormous” – so much great music this year! I am therefore highlighting just a handful of my favorites from the year’s list. I decided to avoid reflecting on the more well known artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift or Jonsi in favor of some artists readers be less familiar with.
Here is my 202 list – in alphabetical order:
– Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
– Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters
– Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini – Illusion of Time
– Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison
– Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – The Fantastic Mrs. 10
– Jim Black Trio – Reckon
– Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard & Steve Swallow – Life Goes On
– Jake Blount – Spider Tales
– Bradfield, Goldberg, Hall – General Semantics
– Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie – Another Flower
– Carolina Blue – Take Me Back
– Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface
– Sylvie Courvoisier Trio – Free Hoops
– Dawes – Good Luck with Whatever
– Dirty Projectors – Windows Open
– Bob Dylan – Rough & Rowdy Ways
– Brian Eno & Roger Eno – Mixing Colors
– EOB – Earth
– Fleet Foxes – Shore
– Nils Frahm – Empty
– Hannah Georgas – All That Emotion
– Ben Goldberg – Symphony # 9
– Ben Goldberg – Plague Diary
– Ben Goldberg & Kenny Wollesen – Music for an Avant-Garde Massage Parlour
– Gordon Grdina’s Nomad Trio – Nomad
– Half Waif – The Caretaker
– Ross Hammond, Oliver Lake & Mike Pride – Our Place On the Wheel
– Ross Hammond & Thom Nguyen – Vines
– Bruce Hornsby – Non Secure Connection
– Innocence Mission – See You Tomorrow
– Sarah Jaroz – World On the Ground
– Jonsi – Shiver
– Kirk Knuffke – Brightness: Live in Amsterdam
– Diana Krall – This Dream of You
– Marie Kruttli Trio – The Kind of Happy One
– Jim Lauderdale – When Carolina Comes Home Again
– Logan Ledger – Logan Ledger
– Adrianne Lenker – Songs
– Makaya McCraven – Universal Beings E&F Sides
– Pat Metheny – From This Place
– Ron Miles – Rainbow Sign
– The Moore Brothers – Autobiography
– Benjamin Moussay – Promontoire
– Fradreck Mujuru & Leonard Chiyanike – Mbira Partners Forever Vol 2
– North Country Blue – Flight
– Aoife O’Donovan – Bull Frogs Croon
– Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown
– Pinegrove – Magnolia
– Katie Pruitt – Expectations
– Psychedelic Furs – Made of Rain
– Sturgill Simpson – Cutting Grass Vol 1
– Bruce Springsteen – Letter to You
– Squrl – Some Music for Robby Muller
– Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
– Moses Sumney – Grae
– Taylor Swift – Folklore
– Tennis – Swimmer
– Alexandre Tharaud – Pesson, Abrahamsen & Strasnoy: Piano Concertos
– Molly Tuttle – But I’d Rather Be with You
– Ultraista – Sister
– Raf Vertessen Quartet – LOI
– M Ward – Immigration Stories
– Watkins Family Hour – Brother Sister
– Webber/Morris Big Band – Both Are True
Jake Blount – Spider Tales
Bluegrass and old-timey fiddle music are often seen by the wider culture as largely “white people” music. The truth, however, is that these genres have deep roots in black music. Rhode Island banjo player/fiddler/singer Jake Blount has made an album that sounds simultaneously ancient and modern. This is deep roots music reclaiming a tradition that was wrenched from America’s black and indigenous cultures.
Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie – Another Flower
Harold Budd’s music holds a special place in my life. In 1984, Budd and Brian Eno collaborated on an ambient music masterpiece, “The Pearl”. The music on that album takes me to places within myself that are hard to describe. If I had to make a list of my 5 desert island discs that record would be on there. Budd and Cocteau Twins guitarist Robin Guthrie have been collaborating on music together since the late 80s. Their beautiful new recording “Another Flower” was released just just 4 days before Harold Budd’s death from COVID. A special parting gift.
Ben Goldberg – Symphony No. 9
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg is one of my very favorite composers and improvisers. His “Symphony No. 9” is embodied largely by the triple reed section of Ben (clarinet), Kasey Knudsen (alto sax) and Chris Speed (tenor sax). It rides a wave somewhere between composition and improvisation which vacilates greatly in textures and mood – at times edgy and angular – at times sublimely lyrical. Ben also has initiated an ambitious bandcamp project called “Plague Diary” (also an entry on my list) where he has been composing releasing a song per day since COVID Shelter in place started in March. Check it out! https://ben-goldberg–bag-production-records.bandcamp.com/album/plague-diary
Logan Ledger – Logan Ledger
Nashville singer/songwriter Logan Ledger has a voice that reminds me of George Jones, Roy Orbison and Elvis. His music feels both retro and modern, all at the same time. A recent review from The Wall Street Journal described his music as “awash in unabashedly subjective moods—the dreamy, the whimsical, the fantastic—evanescent but often dark.” His great vocals and songwriting are further enhanced by T Bone Burnett’s sepia tone production.
Aofie O’Donovan – Bull Frog Croon (and other songs)
Singer/songwriter Aofie O’Donavan is most well known as the lead vocalist for Crooked Still. On her “Bull Frog Croon” EP, she was inspired by the poetry of Peter Sears, who was the poet laureate of Oregon in the mid 10’s. She has created a sublimely beautiful song cycle which stylistically glides somewhere in the space between Americana and classical genres. She is joined by some great musicians including fiddler Brittany Haas (Cooked Still), bassist Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers) and others. For me, it was one of the most soothing yet emotionally provacative records of the year. Perfect for the space I was needing in 2020!
By the time my band Tumble released our first album, “Music for Trio”, in February of 2017, Tumble was already a quartet. We had the good fortune of adding bass player Bill Douglass as a full time member in 2016. Bill is a master musician and improviser who has played with so many musical greats including Paul McCandless, Mark Isham, Art Lande, Mose Allison, Tom Waits and many others. For Randy, Sean and I, Bill was a musical mentor and we learned so much from the opportunities we had to play with him. We were often encouraged by Bill to leave more space in the sound. During the time we played with him, the band developed a deeper sense of listening into our ensemble playing and group improvisations.
In May 2017, three months after the release of our first album, Tumble returned to the studio to begin work on our second album titled “Waves.” Just like on our first record, we tracked all songs live. We again recorded at Blue Whale Recording with our friend Bruce Wheelock. Bruce runs a very warm and homey studio and he excels at making the artists feel comfortable. This was the perfect environment for us to create and explore!
The centerpiece of the album is Sean’s magnum opus “The Nuthatch.” It is a 3-part suite that was inspired by the namesake bird. This piece covers vast musical terrain including odd time signature grooves, free-form group improvisation, a solo guitar cadenza, and a samba inspired ending. At the heart and center of this piece is a beautifully expressive midsection featuring Bill’s inspired bass improvisations. He takes a lyrical approach over Sean’s descending chord progression. We chose “The Nuthatch” as the opening piece on the record. The album is quite eclectic musically, and we initially had difficulty decided where to start regarding song order. “The Nuthatch” covers so much ground through diverse textures and thus seemed to be a microcosm for the whole record. On the morning that the album was released, I looked out of my kitchen window to see a Nuthatch perching on our bird feeder. I thought it was an auspicious sign!
For me, working on “Unsuitable” was also a highlight. In the early 80s, I was introduced to artists who were creating ultra short pieces of music. During that period, highly creative groups like The Residents and The Minutemen were routinely producing songs that were under 2 minutes. This is so much shorter than is necessary to create a proper pop song, but in the realm of “art music” it can work quite well. Around the same time that I was exploring these groups, I was also studying classical piano. I was playing the 2 and 3 part inventions from Bach which are similarly short, concise and musically dense. This esthetic of short pieces is in some ways the opposite of what Tumble is well known for – long extended jams. I came to the composition for “Unsuitable” with the explicit desire to create something that could work for Tumble but still be short and concise. It was also fun to record my daughter Mei Lin on this piece playing some pizzicato violin which makes a counterpoint with the mbira part quite nicely. I am proud of the 1:20 time mark on this piece.
Bill brought Monk’s “Misterioso” into the group. For Bill, Thenonius Monk was an artistic high priest supreme. Something about the alternating octaves that I often play on mbira made him think of this iconic Monk melody. He suggested that Tumble try playing “Misterioso”. He suggested to me that I play an mbira solo on this song. I had never before taken this role in Tumble and I was initially quite reticent to say the least. Randy, Sean and Bill are all such fine soloists and so the prospect of taking a solo break was initially not appealing to me. Bill was quite encouraging though and I think he had a vision of just how cool an mbira break could sound. With his encouragement, I found my way and I really appreciate the support and patience of the whole band during the process of finding my voice in this musical context. I really enjoy the quirky Tumble version of this tune and think of Bill every time I hear it.
Randy brought in his fun Ornette Coleman-influenced tune “Much Happy”. This was the first time that Tumble played a completely free piece in terms of having no time signature. The tune has an amazing blend and balance of quirky humor and sensitive listening. The group improvisation on this tune was a highlight of this recording process for me. It is an example of a tune that really grew in scope and approach through the process of recording in the studio. Early on during the recording sessions, we brought in several special guest musicians for an expanded group approach on this tune. I think we recorded more versions of this song than any other. In the end, we chose a quartet version for inclusion on the record.
On this album, we had the opportunity to mix with Mikail Graham. This was also a fun collaboration. I had worked with Mikail several years previously on my solo album “Soft Sea Creatures”. We spent many sessions mixing that album and I greatly appreciated the sense of musicality and artistry that he brought to the process. Sean and I spent many nights at Mikail’s “Other Studio” in Nevada City working on the mix for Waves. On several tunes, Mikail brought in extra layers of treatment on the instruments to enhance the emotional tone of each piece. Sean and I really enjoyed working with Mikail on this process and I feel that he helped bring these tracks to the next level.
Tumble had the good fortune of playing a couple of house concerts at Bill’s friend Ellen Reynard’s home in Nevada City. She had a beautiful intimate space for us to perform in. The walls were adorned with some incredible art. I later found out that the art in the space were original paintings from her late husband Paul Reynard. Paul’s art covered a vast array of artistic territory throughout the six decades of his work. We were quite taken by his painting “The Orient” and Ellen graciously allowed us to use tis image for the album cover. We felt that the imagery of this piece provides a nice counterpoint to the sonic elements of “Waves”. As on our first record, we again worked with graphic artist Julia VBH on the CD graphics and layout.
Just as “Music for Trio” was already a document of a past stage of the band by the time it was released, so again Tumble has moved on since the time that we recorded “Waves”. We are currently thrilled to be playing as a quartet with bassist/percussionist Rob Holland and our music is moving in some new and exciting directions. “Waves” captures the band as it was during a special time when we were a quartet with Bill Douglass. I am really glad to have this musical statement out in the world to share with others.
My daughter Mei Lin and I have put together a bluegrass band – Boston Ravine. This peculiar band name comes from the original name given to our neighborhood back in the Gold Rush days. Pioneers from the Boston area settled in and around Wolf Creek in search of new fortunes. Later on, the whole Grass Valley area was called Boston Ravine before the township settled on “Grassy Valley”. As we live just across the street from Wolf Creek, we thought it appropriate to call ourselves by this name – a fitting name for a Bluegrass band.
People who are familiar with my musical leanings towards modern cross-cultural trancy groove music (that was a mouthful!), might be a bit surprised to see me playing old-time Bluegrass music. You might be wondering how I ended up traveling this particular road.
When I was in High School, a friend of mine turned me on to the Grateful Dead. I went to see them in 1980 at the Long Beach Sports Arena. This was one of the first “big” concerts I ever attended. I had a strong sense that the Dead were pulling from deep roots in American music. Later, when I was in my early 20’s, a friend introduced me to Old & In the Way, the short-lived bluegrass band that Jerry Garcia started with David Grisman in the mid 70s. When I first heard Old & In the Way, it all connected for me. I later found out that Jerry Garcia played banjo long before he ever picked up any electric instrument. So Old & In the Way was really a return to roots for him. Over the next few years I started to explore David Grisman’s music as well.
Years later, my friend Russel Roe made me a cassette tape of some of his favorite Bill Monroe recordings. Around this time, my brother Darrel started playing banjo, and was also really getting into bluegrass. I started playing bluegrass songs in living room jams with Russ and also with my brother when I would visit the family in central coast California.
In 2002, Juli and I moved from the Bay Area to Grass Valley which is up in the Sierra Foothills above Sacramento. Grass Valley is also the home of one of the best bluegrass festivals in the world. Going to the festival every summer and experiencing top notch bluegrass bands live in performance really enhanced my love for this music!
We started bringing Mei Lin to the festival with us when she was a baby. Although she has been exposed to such a broad range of genres and styles in our musically diverse household, she really loved bluegrass from the very start. She started playing violin when she was 7 years old, and it did not take long at all for her to start picking up old-timey and bluegrass fiddle tunes. From that time on, we have been frequently jamming in our living room. I cannot express what a wonderful bond and blessing this shared passion for playing music together has been for us! I also love how everything just fell naturally into place for this over time. Beautiful how life works sometimes!!
Last year, we recorded an EP of some favorite traditional bluegrass tunes. Our friend Kathy Barwick played some Scruggs style banjo on the old Flatt & Scruggs tune “Somehow Tonight”, and Juli played a bit of clawhammer banjo on the old folk tune “Bury Me Beneath the Willow”. We hope you enjoy our renditions of these old soulful tunes.
7/23 – Update to post.. This EP is no longer available or in circulation.