Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
drum hat buddha
Signature Sounds SIG 1266

By Bonny Holder

Whenever I play drum hat buddha by Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer in the background at a social gathering, I notice that the most intelligent, perceptive people in the room sort of snap, look at the speakers, and come over to read the back of the jewel box.

At first listen, there is plenty to attract the ear. You recognize the Americana-aspect of the sound, a banjo break here, a fiddle swoop there. It's not bluegrass though. And it's a bit orchestral, a little dramatic for folk. The singers' accents have a southern feel, yet you read that they live in Portland, Oregon. This is pleasant, you think. This is pretty, not too hot and not too cold. You discern a sense of humor is present, although you are not listening to the words of the songs.

Sit down with drum hat buddah for a couple of days, and you realize that the superficial beauty of this CD is only the tip of what this couple of wonderful musicians do on their 3rd album together.

drum hat buddha came out at the same time "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was on the big screen but I find a real compatibility between that film's design style (not the plot!) and this CD. At once, Texan Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer are an integral balance to one another in voice and in musical intent. Their songs are sophisticated and complex, yin and yang, an (almost) perfect circle.

Lyrically (I believe Dave Carter is the major writer), their songs are timeless in the here-and-now; a thousand-molecules-in-motion and still as simple as river stones. And, I have to say it, the way they play and their relationship with the songs is very sensual. If you can sit still during the fiddle break in their road song, "highway 80 (she's a mighty good road)" then you are MUCH too old to rock & roll.

This isn't drivin' and cryin' music; this is intelligent music for people who like a largely-acoustic sound. "Post-modern mythic American music" is what they call it.

I love how they bring to mind such specific images to the ear. They describe details of place and state of mind so clearly you can taste it, but at the same time, the singer(s) seem not quite from those spaces of country and time, but of them. When Tracy Grammer sings a lyric like this, from "disappearing man":

at the end of the year, when the cliffs rise up behind you
and the stream runs in circles from the chasm to the core
and the sun comes in tears 'cause the gardener did not find you
will you bloom bright and fierce, will you know; you don't need him anymore?
Her violin weeps, and Carter's voice and guitar caress her voice like a hymn, with just enough Eleanor Rigby to make you smile.

When Dave Carter sings, from "Tillman County":

chickasha trickster calls to the funnel cloud
demon come screamin over wichita falls
lines down, power out, ryan and points south
time and direction don't matter at all

You're not sure if he is a survivor or the tornado itself. And ­ so few songwriters are clever any more ­ that "ryan and points south" image of a weather/traffic radio report adds another tasteful touch of flavor. His songs are full of this.

They sing and play the brightest gold to the deepest violet, and there is no one like them that I have ever heard. I cannot wait to hear them live. They are so genuine and so talented that they can successfully sing of heartbreak, Merlin the magician, ordinary towns ("this is an ordinary town and the prophet stands alone, this is an ordinary town and we crucify our own, and every highway leads you prodigal again to the ordinary houses you were brought up in") and the theory of evolution, as in "gentle arms of eden":

so the moon fell on the breakers and the morning warmed the waves
till a single cell did jump and hum for joy as though to say

this is my home, this is my only home
this is the only sacred ground that i have ever known
and should i stray in the dark night alone
rock me goddess in the gentle arms of eden.

Without even a twinge of self-parody. Don't buy this CD only for the lyrics; the musicianship is top-notch. It's a treasure you will appreciate more with every play.

Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's website is: www.daveandtracy.com

You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net

 
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