Hit List

Rodney Crowell, Fate's Right Hand.

Two years after breaking a lengthy career silence with The Houston Kid, the onetime Nashville chart king and alt-country forefather returns with an unsparingly candid portrait of the artist in midlife. If its predecessor laid to rest the ghosts of a turbulent past, Fate's Right Hand rouses fresh trouble in the here and now, grappling with mortality ("Still Learning How to Fly"), scathing self-appraisal ("The Man in Me"), and the need to shore up one's spiritual moorings down life's home stretch ("Earthbound"). As always, thanks to his unerring, roots-rock melodic sense and lean, rhythmically-charged production values, Crowell's witty and weighty observations go down smooth and easy. (DMZ/Columbia, www.columbiarecords.com)

—Mike Thomas

John McCusker, Goodnight Ginger.

One of the young lions of Scots and English music, fiddler John McCusker never reduces his playing to the mere fast and furious—it's at once sprightly, lyrical, and introspective. Many of the tunes on this lovely new project are his own compositions, fine vehicles for his sweet tone, flawless intonation, and swinging mellow rhythm. Though his fiddling style is traditional, the arrangements are decidedly contemporary—full of musical surprises contributed by gifted collaborators like Kate Rusby, Andy Cutting, Phil Cunningham, and Ian Carr. When it comes to guitar accompaniment, Carr possesses one of the planet's most original minds. His quirky harmonic ideas, novel chord voicings, and bar-crossing counter-rhythms consistently add unique and charming twists. (Compass, www.compassrecords.com)

—Sue Thompson

Tim O'Brien, Traveler.

This addictive feast of Cajun, bluegrass, and roots-based original music boasts the highest level of ensemble playing by O'Brien (guitar, mandolin), Ray Bonneville (harmonica), Casey Driessen (fiddle), John Doyle (guitar), Kenny Malone (percussion), and Dirk Powell (bass, accordion). It's impossible to single out one player or instrument for praise as the core group is joined by luminaries Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, and Béla Fleck. One minute you're mesmerized by fantastic picking, the next by fierce fiddling or thumping bass. The interplay of minor-key melody and uplifting staccato counterpoint underscore the inherent tensions of the title track, a mournful ballad about finding few answers on life's journey. O'Brien's tenor vocals, with their lonesome twang, reach deep into mountain soul, while his imagistic lyrics limn all forms of travel—emotional, philosophical, spiritual. (Sugar Hill, www.sugarhillrecords.com)

—CŽline Keating

Yo-Yo Ma, Obrigado Brazil.

While Ma's cello is the main voice on this collection of Brazilian music, most cuts feature fine work from some of Brazil's greatest guitarists. Ma teams up with SŽrgio and Odair Assad on a beautiful arrangement of Heitor Villa-Lobos' "A Lenda do Caboclo." Romero Lubambo gracefully powers two choros by legendary Brazilian mandolinist Jacob de Bandolim and provides fine solo and rhythm work on "Samambaia." Bossa nova pioneer Oscar Castro-Neves plays on several cuts, notably a stunning duet with Ma on the intro to Baden Powell's "Apelo." Egberto Gismonti also makes an appearance on his composition "Salvador," where he uses the guitar to approximate a small orchestra of Afro-Brazilian percussion instruments behind Ma's alternately jagged and lyrical cello lines. (Sony Classical, www.sonyclassical.com)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

 

Gillian Welch, Soul Journey.

There's an intimate, immediate feel to Soul Journey, which Welch swears is the "sunniest" album she's ever made. Instead of spending months writing and editing, Welch and collaborator David Rawlings composed these tunes in a week and recorded them quickly, when the songs "just barely existed." The results are some of the simplest, most moving performances Welch has recorded, including the sly, sing-song "Look at Miss Ohio"; the playfully offhand "One Monkey"; and a solo, world-weary version of Mississippi John Hurt's "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor." Careful not to distract from Welch's voice, guitarist Rawlings, Dobro player Greg Liesz, and fiddler Ketcham Secor use their notes sparingly behind her, reinforcing the album's simple strength. (Acony, www.gillianwelch.com)

—Kenny Berkowitz

Samson Schmitt Quintet featuring Dorado Schmitt, Djieske.

The debut CD of Samson Schmitt, son of Gypsy jazz guitarist Dorado Schmitt, proves conclusively that la pomme never falls far from l'arbre. Filled with speedy guitar improvisations powered by youthful exuberance, Djieske showcases a rising young star backed by some of the best players in the genre, including Schmitt's widely admired father on second lead and rhythm guitar. Mixing great classic tunes like "Pent-Up House," "Donna Lee," and "Melodie au Crepuscule" with such fine originals as "Entre Nous" and the title track, this CD gives the younger Schmitt ample room to show off his energetic guitar style. (EMD, www.labelemd.com)

—David McCarty

Natalie Merchant, The House Carpenter's Daughter.

After 18 years at Elektra, Natalie Merchant has quit her recording contract, started her own independent label, and freed herself from the constraints of making hits. In a dramatic move, she has turned to the likes of the Carter Family and the Horseflies for material, and the result is a dark, weighty album of folk-trad covers, all beautifully arranged and recorded. Merchant's singing is strong and subtly shaded, and her backing bandÐGabriel Gordon and Erik Della Penna (guitars); Graham Maby (bass); Elizabeth Steen (organ); and Horseflies Judy Hyman (fiddle), Richie Stearns (banjo), and Allison Miller (drums)Ðplays gorgeously throughout, striking the perfect balance of rural and urban, old and new, spare and sophisticated. (Myth America, www.nataliemerchant.com)

—Kenny Berkowitz

Eric Hofbauer, American Vanity.

In this set of 20 original compositions and arrangements, guitarist Eric Hofbauer deconstructs the music of icons ranging from Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, and Charlie Parker to Jerome Kern, the Velvet Underground, and Eric Satie. Using hefty fingerstyle chops on acoustic guitar, he weaves bebop phrases, discrete bass lines, prepared guitar, dissonance, and fragmented improvisation into a cool and unique personal statement. Even as it disintegrates before your eyes, a tune's identity lingers, and Hofbauer sustains the personality of each arrangement while re-examining its elements. The latent Latin dance character of Satie's "Gnossienne #1," for instance, shows itself in a driving beat that appears after a brief introduction of random string-generated noise. Hofbauer's original pieces are equally interesting, angular, and thorny; the lovely "Display Window Strut" is reminiscent of Duck Baker's jazz work. (Creative Nations, www.cnmpro.com)

—Gary Lee Joyner

William Lee Ellis, Conqueroo.

Guitarist William Lee Ellis has clearly inherited musical chops from his father, Tony, a banjo- and fiddle-playing alumnus of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. But the younger Ellis also has mastered Piedmont- and Delta-style blues picking and is a fine singer and composer, too. On Conqueroo, he combines influences to create an Americana gem that sparkles with blues invention and country soul. "Never Be the Child" sets open-tuned slide guitar against a rockabilly rhythm. "Honey Take Your Time" updates Mississippi John Hurt with Memphis vocal harmony. And the a cappella gospel tune "My Religion Too" (with help from R&B group the Masqueraders) is a timely jeremiad against the dangers of religious extremism. (Yellow Dog, www.yellowdogrecords.com)

—Ian Zack

Eden-Stell Guitar Duo with Helen Sanderson, Follow the Star: The Music of Stephen Dodgson.

The Eden-Stell duo—British classical guitarists Mark Eden and Chris Stell—brings us a noteworthy addition to the lexicon of modern classical guitar recordings, serving up masterful performances of fellow countryman Stephen Dodgson's music for two guitars. Highlights include a new and substantial work, Concertino for Two Guitars and Strings, Les Dentelles, and "Riversong: Rhapsody for Two Guitars," a piece that is at times as alluring and evocative as its title suggests. Rounding out the disc, Helen Sanderson joins the duo for a fine three-guitar rendering of Dodgson's 1980 piece "Follow the Star: Fantasy on an Old Dutch Christmas Hymn." (BGS, www.edenstell.com)

—Patrick Francis

Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, November 2003, No. 131.

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