Brother Sun - self-titled

[purchase]

Brother Sun is the trio of Pat Wictor, Joe Jencks, and Greg Greenway. After ten years or more each as a solo artist, they have come together, and the result is an album that sounds like they have never been anything but a group. Here are three singers who take turns singing lead and back-up for the other singers, and the vocal blend is a marvel. Each plays guitar, but Greenway can switch to piano, Jencks to bouzouki, and Wictor to lap slide guitar. I’m not sure who plays electric guitar on some songs. I don’t think there are any overdubs, and there are no other musicians on the album, but the sound is full and rich throughout. There are a minimum of solos here, and two songs are accompanied only by fingersnaps. Just as the singing is so tight, so too is the ensemble playing. These artists support each other and the songs they have chosen.

Based on the lyrics, I would have called this album The Rock and the Reason. One of the songs Pat Wictor contributes is Love is the Water, and the next line is “That wears down the rock.” Later, Joe Jencks contributes Love is the Reason. As solo artists, each of these artists as explored a number of different themes, but the songs on this album are all about reaching for love and friendship in the face of adversity. There are eleven songs in all. One reason the album held my interest that long, with only one subject for all the songs, is the wonderful variety of musical settings. The different instrumental blends make for a nice variety of textures. Vocally, Brother Sun can go from the creamy harmonies of Trouble to the gospel stylings of Well Well Well, to what might be called the “folk” style of All I Want is a Garden. It also helps to have the singers taking turns singing lead. All three convey emotion, but each in their own way. Greenway starts things off with Trouble. He sings in a high tenor, and he expresses beauty in the way he sings. But sadness and even anger lay beneath the surface, trying to break through. Jencks is also a tenor, but, as heard on Come With Me, the pain is closer to the surface in his voice. Beauty and love come through in his voice is yearning, but he also conveys hope. Wictor has the lowest voice here, and sings in a folk blues style. The rough surfaces of pure blues are smoothed out, but the strong brew of emotion still comes through loud and clear. On Sister Moon, Wictor presents a different voice for a different kind of song. This one has an almost lullaby quality, and the song comes across as a beautiful expression of the wonder of love.

One song perhaps best displays everything that is so right about this album. Go Tell Mary is a co-write by Tom Prasada-Rao and Pat Wictor. But Brother Sun is a group of three generous musicians who are most interested in what is best for the song. So it is Joe Jencks, not Pat Wictor, who takes the lead vocal on this one. The bluesy quality on Wictor’s writing comes through, but in Jencks’ voice this time, and it works beautifully. The song is a telling of the biblical story of Lazarus, from the point of view of his sister Martha. Martha’s love for her brother, and also her sister Mary, form the focus of the song. Martha has taken on burdens for her sister’s sake, and now she does not regret it, but she yearns to lay them down, if only for a little while. The song is thus consistent with the album’s theme, but it also demonstrates how much these three songwriters find to say about it.

The album concludes with All I Want is a Garden. This one is a song of a traveling musician’s love of home and family. The song functions on the album as a closing benediction and prayer. It’s a great conclusion to a fine album. I was already familiar with Pat Wictor’s music. Now I know that I will need to find out more about Greg Greenway and Joe Jencks as well. Stay tuned.

Brother Sun: Trouble

Brother Sun: Well, Well, Well

Revisited: George Wirth, Pat Wictor, Mike and Ruthy, Danny Ellis, Melissa Stylianou

This is the first Revisited post. I intend this to be an occasional feature. In these posts, I will be looking back at an artist or group that I have already covered, and examining their older work. So, if you are an artist that I have previously featured, let me hear from you about your older work.

There are many reasons to look back at an artist’s history. It can be a simple matter of wanting to know if the quality of their work has been consistent. But inconsistency also has its pleasures. Some artists take a while to find their style, and their early work provides a wonderful insight into how they developed. Other artists have only a short history, and their work could be that of two artists or even more, so sharp are the differences from album to album. There is also value in reintroducing an artist who will have a new album out soon. Above all, these songs are here because the great music made by these artists is not confined to just one of their albums.

George Wirth: Diner

[purchase]

George Wirth impressed me on his album The Last Good Kiss with the quality of his songwriting. In particular, he displayed a strong sense of place and a gift for bringing his characters to life in just a few lines. This quality was already fully developed on his debut album The Lights of Brigantine. Diner is a fine example. As I listened to the song, I was in that booth in the diner, watching the customers as Wirth told me about them. I could almost smell the food cooking. Suzanne Vega’s song Tom’s Diner has her observing the customers from outside, not as part of their world. But Wirth is both an observer and a member of this group of patrons. It’s a fine balance, and one that he realizes perfectly. The only accompaniment here is Wirth’s guitar, and that’s all the song needs.

Pat Wictor: Don‘t Dig My Grave Too Deep

[purchase]

When I featured him here, I presented Pat Wictor showing his jazzy side. But he is far more versatile than that. Don’t Dig My Grave Too Deep shows that Wictor is also a fine storyteller. The song is by Rich Deans, a songwriter I need to learn more about. But Wictor’s performance of it made me choose this song over some of his originals. Wictor is a fine songwriter, but this one just has it all for me. The song presents the challenge of taking a character who may have done some awful things, and making him sympathetic. Not every singer can pull that off, but Wictor succeeds beautifully.

Mike and Ruthy: Another Dawn Another Day

[purchase]

It is worth revisiting the music of Mike and Ruthy because it has two distinct sides. On Million to One, they decided to rock out, and that album was an exuberant joy. But Waltz of the Chickadee emphasizes their folk side, and it was the album that drew me to their music in the first place. This is quieter music with quieter concerns. The album notes suggest that the couple were celebrating the birth of their son at the time, and the whole album could be taken as a lullaby. But this is a set of songs for adults, and it eloquently expresses the hopes and fears that are wrapped up in the birth of a child. On this album, Mike and Ruthy sing softly but expressively, often in unison or close harmony. Another Dawn Another Day leads off the album, and does not get into its theme yet, but it shows off their voices best.

Danny Ellis: Searching

[purchase]

There could not be a sharper contrast between 800 Voices and Danny Ellis’ album from six years earlier, This Tenderness. You may recall that 800 Voices was the album where Ellis tried to set some powerful personal ghosts to rest. The music was a mix of musical styles he heard in his youth, dominated by Irish folk. But This Tenderness is something else again. The songs have a Latin Jazz feel to them. It’s all too easy to mess this kind of thing up with overproduction, but Danny Ellis handles the music with a delicacy that is perfect for this kind of thing. Searching is a fine example, but the quality of this album is very consistent. This Tenderness does not have the passion of 800 Voices, but it shouldn’t. Ellis sings with all of the feeling that is needed. And his trombone solos on this album are a real treat. You can’t really use a mute on a trombone unless you have impossibly long arms, but that is the kind of sound Ellis gets, and it is exactly right, like so much of this album. So, perhaps Ellis’ next album will reveal what he really sounds like. Or maybe he is still asking himself the same question. Either way, that will be an album I want to hear.

Melissa Stylianou: Tea in the Sahara

[purchase]

If I was going to do this post, then I had to consider what I said here as a promise to share with you Melissa Stylianou’s wonderful version of Tea in the Sahara. It might seem like an odd choice for a jazz singer, but Stylianou makes the song sound like a standard. There have been other jazz versions, but I have found none that give the song such a classic jazz treatment. That said, Stylianou and her band perform this with a freedom that is the cornerstone of what jazz is all about. Listen closely, and you will notice that the band changes the arrangement with each verse. But this is not for show; Stylianou makes the song her own, but she never forgets that the song is what is important.

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Anna Coogan: Crooked Sea

[purchase The Nocturnal Among Us here]

[donate here]

Here is news of a fund drive, and it is only fitting that it is for an artist I have featured here before. In fact, the song Crooked Sea comes from Anna Coogan’s last album, The Nocturnal Among Us. But it is a song of the sea, and that is the theme of the album Coogan needs your help to finish. Coogan is a poetic songwriter, and a singer with both great feeling and great subtlety. She has modeled her campaign after Kickstarter, with rewards for various levels of donation, but she is running the campaign on her website. There is no deadline, and Coogan will get whatever is raised. You can hear more songs from Nocturnal on Coogan’s website. Please do what ever you can to help.

Reminder: Adam Sweeney & the Jambouree have only until May 4 to make their goal, and they still have a lot of ground to cover. Please do what you can to help here as well.

Finally, I hope everyone has noticed the Facebook like button on the right-hand sidebar. This will get you signed up for the new Oliver di Place community page on Facebook. There, you will see posts to let you know whenever there is a new post here, but there will also be exclusive content there. I invite artists who I have posted about here to use that space to let my readers know about upcoming releases. Thank you.

The New Red Molly in Concert

I reviewed Red Molly’s last two albums here and here. Then, I saw them live and got to meet them at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival over the summer. That was their last performance with the original line-up. Carolann Sollebello has left the band, and Molly Venter has taken her spot. There is no replacing Sollebello’s contributions to the band, and Laurie MacAllister and Abbie Gardner were wise enough not to try. Molly Venter brings entirely different qualities to the group, and I was eager to see how that would work. Thursday night, I got my chance, and I am thrilled to report on the results. Since there is no recording as yet of this new line-up, I am presenting a sample of their work as solo artists. I also have for you songs from the opening acts.

Woody Mann: East Side Story

[purchase]

Woody Mann was not on the bill, but he came out first to warm up the crowd. I came in late, and only heard his last tune, an instrumental. Mann was playing a national steel guitar, and putting it through its paces. Just as he does on East Side Story, he set up the basic structure of the song, and then played with it. His notes and chords fall around the beat, and everything is a tune with variations. None of this is just for show however. Mann always has the emotion of the piece in mind, and his improvisations help to tell the story. Later in the show I saw, Mann came back on stage for a jam on the grand finale. Here, he proved to be both a fiery soloist and a skilled and supportive accompanist. I only discovered his voice and his songwriting on the album I took home; they are quite a bonus.

Pat Wictor (with Abbie Gardner): A Little Love is Gonna Do

[purchase]

Pat Wictor was the official opening act. Wictor is a blues-based songwriter and guitar player with a folkish tenor voice that he knows how to use just perfectly for his material. His set was another discovery for me, and I will be keeping track of his career from now on. During Red Molly’s set, Abbie Gardner called Wictor up for a song, and everyone else left the stage. Wictor and Gardner, after calling themselves “jazz heads”, proceeded to perform A Little Love is Gonna Do. It’s hard for me to call the song a highlight of a show where almost every song was a highlight for me, but I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole time they did this one.

Molly Venter: Happier Now

[purchase]

Molly Venter brings a soulful voice and a rocker’s intensity to the group. To imagine Red Molly doing Happier Now, start with the intro you hear in this version, with voice and acoustic guitar. Now, instead of the rock arrangement heard here, add just dobro and bass, plus harmony vocals on the chorus. Thursday night, the song really came alive. Venter’s voice is powerful, but she also knows how to blend in beautifully with the other voices in the group, and on a lot of songs she had to learn in a short time. She also took the lead on a great cover of Fever, which I hope the band plans to record. It was a blast.

Abbie Gardner: Honey on My Grave

[purchase]

Honey on My Grave is one of my favorite songs that Red Molly does. The song emphasizes Abbie Gardner’s bluesy side. Gardner’s solo version is more intimate than the way Red Molly did it Thursday, but either way, the song comes through beautifully as bluesy prayer.

Laurie MacAllister: Where Goes My Love?

[purchase]

The only solo work I have from Laurie MacAllister is the album The Things I Choose to Do. This is an album of all covers, and it shows a side of MacAllister that I don’t see much of in Red Molly. So I am including Where Does My Love Go? In this post for two reasons: , MacAllister is an essential part of Red Molly, so it wouldn’t be fair to leave her out; and besides, the song is incredibly beautiful. If I had to give a name to the style in which the song is arranged, I suppose I would call it Western chamber folk. One thing that does carry over from here to MacAllister’s contribution to Red Molly is the tenderness and delicacy of her vocals here. Although not always the feature of a Red Molly vocal arrangement, this quality is the glue that holds many of their songs together.

Call for help:

Chris LaVancher: Bury Me

Donate here

Chris LaVancher just launched his Kickstarter campaign to make his debut album. LaVancher writes songs that tell stories of love among the ruins. His characters may not be from the highest rungs of society, but their feelings come through loud and clear. LaVancher’s guitar playing has the feel of the best acoustic blues, although it is not blues exactly. His folky tenor voice completes the package, and his songs really shine through.

On his Kickstarter page, LaVancher has set a modest goal for his drive. He talks about having an idea in his head about how the album might have sounded, and about having to scale back his plans in the face of financial realities. I hope LaVancher can smash through the goal he set for this drive, and make the album he first heard in his head. That doesn’t have to mean that he gets Willie Nelson to duet with him, however.

Reminder:

Kim Davidson and Kristi Martel still need your help to make their albums. So does Mary Bragg. Thank you for whatever you can do.