Kód: 30650774 45,32 €
Dodanie trvá 12 týždňov.
Dátum vydania: 12.2.2007
Žáner: Country
EAN: 0015891402123 (info)
Nosič: CD
Popis - FORK IN THE ROAD:
The recent history of bluegrass is littered with stories of manufactured buzz about bands that subsequently failed to live up to advance billing. Yet an honest appraisal of that history also demands recognition of the fact that amid the disappointing hype campaigns, there have been times when a stir has been created not by wily publicists, but by knowledgeable expectations, solidly grounded experience and simple word of mouth. Blue Highway burst onto the bluegrass scene in the mid-90s in just this way, and at the turn of the century Mountain Heart did, too. Both went on to fulfill the dreams of early supporters by finding their own places among the music’s most distinctive artists. Now, just a few years later, along come The Infamous Stringdusters, who show every sign of doing the same—and like their predecessors, they offer a debut that is profoundly rooted, compellingly original, and made with the same blend of blazing creativity, virtuosity and heart that has characterized the best in bluegrass since its birth. But while there’s precedent for the Infamous Stringdusters’ quick ascent into view, there’s much that’s also unique about the group. For one thing, it’s difficult to imagine that its members could have come together anywhere but in Nashville. These days, Music City serves as a magnet for young players of every background, and the bluegrass community here, with its grizzled veterans, established artists and eager newcomers has a way of creating unexpected yet productive connections that can mature into long-lasting musical relationships. And, in fact, that community was the forge in which the Infamous Stringdusters were founded, as its members grew familiar with one another while serving apprenticeships with artists like Ronnie Bowman, the Seldom Scene, Chris Jones and Mike Snider, and solidified those nascent friendships at recording sessions, casual gigs and picking parties. It was, perhaps, inevitable that the same creativity and skills which made them such valuable players on others’ behalf would, when combined with the ambition and vision that often animates talented young men and women, drive Andy Hall, Chris Eldridge, Chris Pandolfi, Jeremy Garrett, Jesse Cobb—and, eventually, Travis Book, who was the last to join the group—to go out on their own. As a journalist, but also as a colleague and neighbor, I was fortunate to be in a position to watch the Infamous Stringdusters come together, to hear them work through the process of creating a unique sound and body of material, and to witness the care they took in laying the groundwork, both musically and professionally, for the career that is now off to such a strong start. In the process, the Infamous Stringdusters learned much, and not only about each others’ musical gifts. A seemingly endless string of tour dates, interspersed with the recording sessions that produced Fork In The Road, business meetings—and lots of just plain pickin’—has shaped them into a genuine unit, generously open to one another’s individuality yet bound together by a shared vision and experience. That unity manifests itself in the ways they interact with one another on stage (and with fans off), but also in the warp and woof of their music, too. Grounded in bluegrass, it reflects the ways in which these musicians have influenced one another, bringing both what they’ve learned and what they’ve invented into a tight, yet freewheeling alignment that produces a steady stream of satisfyingly familiar gestures and of bold interplay and innovation. In another promising sign, that blend can be found both in the way The Infamous Stringdusters approach each number and in the memorable original songs and instrumentals that form the bulk of the album. The emphasis on new, never-before-recorded material that characterizes today’s bluegrass isn’t always beneficial—novelty more than occasionally seems to trump depth and craft in the songs that appear on contemporary recordings—but here it reveals one of the group’s great strengths. Unmistakably modern, Jeremy Garrett’s and Andy Hall’s songs nevertheless reveal an equally unmistakable debt to the bluegrass classics in their emotional clarity and straightforward stories, while the instrumentals from Cobb, Hall and Pandolfi revel in the greater freedom of the category, sometimes stepping to the edge of a complexity that would take them wholly beyond the genre without ever crossing the line. Similarly, in reaching outside of the group for songs by other writers, the Stringdusters have shown an unerring collective ear for material that reveals the strength of their interpretive skills and the breadth of their tastes. For while they may range as far afield as John Mayer in their search, they aren’t afraid to tackle the bluesy side of bluegrass with the title track, or the sweet country-bluegrass soul of �Starry Night.� Just as predecessors going all the way back to Bill Monroe have done, they see possibilities and, by drawing them out, make those songs their own. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Stringdusters have found favor with the bluegrass faithful, folk enthusiasts and the youthful jamgrass audience alike. Put them on a bluegrass festival stage alongside the stalwarts, and they can deliver concise, gripping bluegrass; set them in an urban coffeehouse, and they’ll flesh out a song like folk artist Geoff Bartley’s �Letter From Prison� with sensitivity and compassion; drop them into the Colorado mountains at a gathering like Rockygrass, and they’ll slide into extended, entranced improvisation on twisting melodies and edgy rhythms. Without ever losing their identity, this is a band that can truly do it all. Too often, bluegrass fans are confronted with an apparent choice between recapping the glories of the past and departing from bluegrass ground altogether. For those who love the classic strengths of the music—the hard core wail of the high lonesome sound and the muscular virtuosity—but who also want to see it grow and prosper through engagement with the musical world around it, the arrival of Fork In The Road—and of The Infamous Stringdusters—is cause for serious celebration, now and in years to come. -Jon Weisberger, Nashville, TN, November, 2006
