Kris Delmhorst - Cars

[purchase]

Starting in 1978 and running through most of the 80s, there was a new sound in popular music. Prior to that, your standard pop-rock band had drums, bass, and rhythm and lead guitar. There was a lead singer who sang sincere and heart-felt lyrics of the vicissitudes of love. A fifth member of the band, if there was one, played piano or organ or both, and sang back-up. But in 1978, a new band arrived, with great hooks, a lead singer who sang with ironic detachment, although the subject matter had not changed, and with a keyboard player who played synthesizer. The band had great writing, with some of the best hooks anyone had ever heard, and with lyrics that began with tales of teenage lust, and progressed to more mature tales of love as the band matured. The band was The Cars, and you may have guessed that they were favorites of mine. So I’m going to be touchy when someone covers one of their songs. Kris Delmhorst has covered an entire album of them.

The album is Cars. I have to believe that this project started back in the 80s, with Delmhorst learning each new Cars album by heart, and singing along with the records in her bedroom when she thought no one was listening. I say that because her phrasing throughout is perfect, just the way I remember the originals. Now, I don’t go for people who cover a song by reproducing the originals note for note. But, what saves Delmhorst’s vocal performances here for me is the fact that she understands that she is not Ric Ocasek. The notes and the phrasing are here, but the tone is new. Delmhorst does not come off as ironic at all, but the lyrics can support a sincere reading as well, and Delmhorst projects a wonderful warmth that works beautifully. The fast songs, like You Might Think and My Best Friend’s Girl have a playful quality that really works. But Delmhorst especially shines on the ballads. Drive was a big hit in the original version, but it was one place where I always thought that the ironic approach didn’t work. Here, Delmhorst gives a completely sincere reading, and I hear what I was missing.

But I have saved the best for last. Those great hooks are all here, but Delmhorst has arranged the songs for a sort of folk orchestra. On top of a solid foundation of drums and bass, there is an army of mostly acoustic instruments. Those synthesizer line from the original songs might be played here on accordion, fiddle, penny whistle, or even clarinet. On Drive, the original had a wash of synthesizers as the key to the sound of the song, but here it’s a combination of accordion with some bass clarinet added as the song progresses. This really warms the song up, making it more emotionally resonant. Delmhorst also loosens up the arrangements at times. The cello parts on Why Can’t I Have You add depth to the song. Listen closely to the bass line on My Best Friend’s Girl, and you will hear the wonderful playfulness of this album. And the banjo part in Hello Again is a great touch. The background vocals are a mix of high female voices and low male ones, and the push and pull between the two is a device that is used here to great effect, especially on Shake It Up.

In sum, Kris Delmhorst shaows that she loves these songs, and the album gives me fond memories of when I first heard them. But the songs have been revoiced, both vocally and instrumentally, which makes Cars an album that is full of delightful surprises.

Kris Delmhorst: Why Can‘t I Have You

Kris Delmhorst: Drive

Redbird - Live at the Café Carpe

[purchase]

The “members” of Redbird would like you to know that it is not a group; rather, Redbird is what happens when three friends get together and make music. There is a forth friend who lends support on electric guitar and contributes one original tune, an instrumental. Redbird is more than worth hearing, because the three friends are Peter Mulvey, Kris Delmhorst, and Jeffrey Foucault. The forth friend is David Goodrich, who is less known because he does not sing, but he is a fine, supportive player. Every year for the last five, these friends have gotten together at the end of the year for four shows at Café Carpe in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. This album is culled from the 2008 and 2009 shows. I would not call this album a document of these shows. In the interest of including as much music as possible, the decision was made to leave out most of the stage patter between songs. So, the listener does not precisely get the feel of these shows. On the other hand, these certainly are not polished studio performances either. The intimate quality of a show at a small venue has been left in, so there is applause and some audience noise, and there are comments by the musicians. In a couple of spots, the musicians seem to get a barely suppressed case of the giggles. What comes through is the enormous talent of the artists, their level of comfort with one another, and the energy they receive from the crowd.

The format of the album, and I presume the shows as well, is a song swap. One artist starts things off with a song, and that reminds the next artist of another song, and so on. Usually in a song swap, an artist will start a song alone, and then the others will find their parts, entering tentatively at first, and then singing and playing more confidently as the song goes on. That often happens here as well, but there are also songs that Mulvey, Foucalt and Delmhorst have played together often enough that the confidence is there from the beginning. The guitar styles of the three also have a bearing on things. Mulvey started out busking in the Boston subways, so he developed a guitar style that fills space to compete with the noise of the trains. Foucault has a blues and country background, and he plays a lot of lead lines. Delmhorst has a classic folk approach, where her voice is the lead instrument, and she plays a rhythm guitar part to accompany herself; that means that it is easiest for the others to join in on the songs Delmhorst starts, so her songs come together faster than the others. Stewart’s Coat is one of these, and it is the finest ensemble performance on the album. I particularly enjoyed the call-and-response vocals at the end of the song.

It is fairly easy to talk about the songs each artist starts, even though each only contributes one original song to the album. Mulvey contributes three upbeat numbers, but his ballad selection is one of the albums highlights, a beautiful take on Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies. Foucault brings the album to a rousing close with his own 4 & 20 Blues, and also contributes another uptempo number and a country ballad. He also starts the two ensemble numbers, Ships and a goofy cowrite by all of the artists involved, Phonebooth of Love. For this one, the musicians are joined by Barry Rothman on harmonica. Phonebooth of Love is a piece of strange humor spoken over a tight blues groove. Delmhorst’s contributions are four ballads, all rendered beautifully. There is also an instrumental ballad by David Goodrich, Snowed In.

So the balance of faster and slower numbers is perfect here. The energy level is consistently high, as is the musicianship. When you’re in the mood to listen to live folk music, this album would make a fine choice. Live at the Carpe Café comes out on January 25. Keep an eye out for it.

Redbird: Ships

Redbird: Stewart‘s Coat