Americana Music Reviews

 

Drew Emmitt
Freedom Ride
Compass Records
by Al Kunz

We've all got our own musical idiosyncrasies and hang-ups. One of mine is I don't like jazz, at least not what I think of when I hear the term. I picture three or four "cats" wearing sunglasses in a dark bar "improvising" as one instrumental tune spills into another. The audience, all fellow musicians (almost every jazz fan I've ever known was a musician) are impressed with the virtuosity. But in the end it strikes me as nothing more than musical masturbation. Intellectually I realize my jazz prejudice is, at best, simplistic and dated, focusing on a narrow piece of a broad genre. But when I heard that Drew Emmitt was a member of Leftover Salmon, a "jam band," the term sent my mind racing down a similar path. Isn't this the same thing in a different context?

Ultimately it doesn't matter. Maybe my mental picture has a grain of truth, more likely it doesn't. The days when an artist can release an extended jam on record are probably gone. Whether or not I'd like what Emmitt or Leftover Salmon do live doesn't matter. Only the contents of Freedom Ride are at issue here. And please don't point out the hypocrisy evidenced by the copy of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in my closet.

As the mandolin player for Leftover Salmon (who describe their music as "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass"), Emmitt has gained a reputation for virtuosity, just like those cats with the shades. Bandmates Vince Herman and Greg Garrison join Emmitt for this solo debut, but more notable are his other guests, virtuosos all. The guest list, John Cowan (with members of his band), Peter Rowan, Vassar Clements, Randy Scruggs, and bluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan (Nashville Bluegrass Band, Bela Fleck) should have a few familiar names, even for a bluegrass neophyte. Add to that either Sam Bush or Ronnie McCoury lending a second mandolin on some tunes and you've got a lineup that would be hard to beat.

The songs on Freedom Ride are split almost evenly between Emmitt's own and well chosen (in a couple cases inspired) covers. His tunes include the instrumental "Paving Eisenhower" and "Solid Ground," an ode to the stability in life provided by the right woman. Emmitt's compositions show a definite slant to the relationship song. The best of these are a breakup song, "Lonesome Road," and "Bend in the River," which combines Acadian accordion and washboard with banjo, fiddle, and mandolin into a Cajun-bluegrass love song.

Runnin' through a field of clover, yellow hair flying in the breeze
Now that the rainstorm is over, the sun is shining down on you and me
Never have I seen such a vision, in my wildest memories
When I wake up in the morning your face is all I see

Won't you take me down to the bend in the river
Hold me close under the willow tree
Won't you tell me darling, that you'll love me forever
And together we'll set our spirits free

Emmitt sings harmony with Peter Rowan taking over lead vocals, reprising "Rainmaker" from Rowan's Dust Bowl Children disc, and "Memories of Mother and Dad" (popularized by Bill Monroe) acknowledges the pioneers of bluegrass. Both are well done and also easy choices. But if your idea of the perfect cover takes a song places you'd never envision, jumping genre boundaries in a single bound, then they aren't for you. Instead Emmitt offers up a pair of songs by two oft-covered songwriters, performed as you've never heard them before. Not only can you understand the words, but Emmitt's bluegrass version of Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" should put to rest that rumor about there only being two bluegrass songs (you know, the fast one and the slow one). This is bluegrass like you haven't heard before.

While the Dylan cover is my favorite, it was Emmitt's remake of J. J. Cale's "If You're Ever in Oklahoma" that sent me rummaging through old vinyl, eager to compare Cale's original and this bluegrassed version. The verdict was what I suspected, that although I like Cale's "Cocaine" as well as Clapton's cover (for different reasons), it usually isn't until his tunes fall into the hands of a skilled interpreter that they really shine. Compare Clapton's "After Midnight," Skynrd's "Call Me the Breeze," or versions of "Crazy Mama" by Johnny Rivers and others to the Cale originals. You'll see it too. Add Drew Emmitt to this list of successful interpreters. Emmitt resists using Vassar Clements (who's fiddle playing provided most of the energy in the original behind Cale's laconic vocals) opting instead for Stuart Duncan and Luke Bulla on dual fiddles. Combine this with Emmitt and Bush playing mandolin, bury the bass and drums deep in the mix, and you've got a song transformed from relaxed, bluesy, rhythm-driven, country-rock into high energy bluegrass.

With this lineup of A-list players, my only complaint musically is that they sound so damn good. I kept looking for signs of stupid studio tricks, those production techniques that cover mistakes, but in the process suck the soul right out of the music. Maybe you can spot some, but I sure couldn't. It sounds like unadulterated hot pickin' and fiddlin' to me.

* www.compassrecords.com is the place to sample, buy Freedom Ride, or find out more about Drew Emmitt, both solo and as a member of Leftover Salmon.


Contact Al Kunz at kunz-at-rockzilla.net

 
Read the Rockzillaworld Guestbook
Sign the Rockzillaworld Guestbook