Tag Archives: Bo Ramsey

Greg Brown (& Bo Ramsey) Cold & Dark & Wet

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I only recently came upon this fine track ( don’t even know which album the original can be found on). Given that it’s indeed cold, dark and wet outside where I live, I thought it fitting to post this today.

Also, Bo Ramsey (as usual) kills it on lead guitar – no lead guitarist I know can say so much with so few notes. Outstanding.

As an additional plus, the video and audio quality in this video are excellent (there are more Greg Brown videos of this gig from the same user, do yourself a favour and check them out also if you like this).

The Pines : Where Something Wild Still Grows

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This is an unofficial video I found on YouTube to celebrate the arrival of my copy of The Pines’ latest, splendid album Above The Prairie (released early February 2016). More info and my review of the album to follow in the next few weeks. In the meantime, all that’s left for me to say is: Enjoy.

The Pines : Pasture (Folk Songs)

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The Pines Pasture CD-cover jpeg2015 Red House Records

Pasture (Folk Songs) is yet another masterful release by The Pines, the first since 2012’s Dark So Gold album (review see here). It’s a 7-song EP, clocking in at just under 30 minutes. And mighty fine ones at that. Traditionals such as Wild Bill Jones and Banks Of The Ohio accompany well-chosen cover versions by artists such as Greg Brown, Iris DeMent, Mance Lipscomb, Mason Jennings and Joe Price.

The Pines are usually described as Gothic Folk, which in my opinion is slightly misleading, on here I only find it fitting to describe the Mance Lipscomb song Looked Dow The Road And Wondered. To be fair, the band is using that association quite often, e.g. in their cover artworks with a scarecrow on the front cover of Dark So Gold and an American Gothic-window on the back cover of Pasture. What I find much more adequate to discribe their music are associations with Dream Pop and even Shoegaze, as a variety of acoustic and electric guitars provide a dreamy background to almost all of their songs. Alex Ramsey’s piano and keyboards and Benson Ramsey’s lazy, sleepy vocals on most tracks adding the final flourishes making their music so engaging and memorable.

This is for the most parts, entirely calm and peaceful music, although it’s by no means always slow and quiet, as on airy and folky Greg Brown composition Are You Ready For The Fair? (which turns out wonderful, naturally), or the afore-mentioned Looked Down The Road And I Wondered.

Both traditional murder ballads Banks Of The Ohio and Wild Bill Jones are among the best songs on here (although it’s damn near impossible to pick the highlights on an EP is fabulous as Pasture), with both turning out utterly lovely in stark contrast to their violent lyrics. Joe Price’s Down On The Highway and (Greg Brown wife) Iris Dement’s He Reached Down, which is based on the biblical story of the good shepherd, are showing the Pines at their most gentle, dreamlike, and best.

I admit, I am an absolute admirer of The Pines’ music, and I belive they are one of the most singular bands in today’s Folk-Pop music scene and far ahead of most of their peers. This is music that’s good for the soul and mind, combining all the best influences and creating something wonderful with every single one of their releases.

Oh, and, happily Benson and Alex’s dad, Bo Ramsey, contributes his distinctive excellent slide guitar talents to Down On The Highway – nobody I can think of could grace a song quite so sparsely, yet soulfully.

Chad Elliott : Same, Old Way

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I don’t really know all too much about Chad Elliott’s musical work and don’t own his latest album Redemption Man which this track is taken from (yet), but I do know that he’s also a very talented visual artist. Judging from this splendid, relaxed and downright lovely song it’s hight time I rectify that (I will soon). The fact that it also features background vocals by Pieta Brown, who I also admire greatly, as you can tell from checking out this post or this one and was produced by Mr. Bo Ramsey, further add to the appeal this song holds for me.

Greg Brown & Bo Ramsey at D&G’s Tap House in Ames, Iowa

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In March 2013 I finally, and belatedly, discovered the music of Greg Brown and through his albums, also that of Bo Ramsey, his long-term musical partner, and not only in my opinion I guess, guitar genius. How fond I have grown of either artist should come as now surprise if you have browsed through this blog before. I posted raving reviews of Greg Brown’s album If I Had Known  and Bo Ramsey’s very fine album Fragile and have been listening to both artists a hell of a lot of time last spring and summer (and still do, actually). When planning last year’s trip through the Midwest which lead me, only partly coincidentally, through Iowa, I was looking to find out if Greg Brown was playing any shows in the 2 weeks I was there – without too much hope that would actually be the case. So I guess you can imagine that I was more then overjoyed to discover that both were playing a show in the central Iowa town of Ames which I could easily fit into my schedule. After spending about 10 exciting and interesting days on the road travelling through Nebraska and Iowa their show on the 27th of September was ideally timed towards the end of my trip so the timing was right too.

Unfortunately I neglected to take notes about the songs they played but it was, naturally, an excellent show. I was especially surprised and delighted about Bo Ramsey’s brief 7 or so song set in the beginning. He sounded quite different compared with his album Fragile, which was the only album of his I currently know (a fact I plan on rectifying soon). He sounded very energetic, slightly rough, with songs, as far as I could follow the lyrics, mainly about travelling on dirt roads, trains and other similarly rustic subject matter, which was of course much to my liking.

Bo Ramsey at D&G's in Ames, Iowa

Their set together was also splendid, but as I wrote above I can’t really remember exactly which songs they played. As Greg Brown has released about 25 studio albums throughout his career, they have obviously got a wide variety of brilliant songs to choose from. Unfortunately I wasn’t really able to take good quality photos as the show was packed and I was a bit locked in the middle of the audience, so the photos on here are rather poor, sorry about that. But just being there was a dream come true and most probably a chance to catch them playing a show together I won’t have again, so I am absolutely happy with how things went.

Bo Ramsey adn Greg Brown in Ames, IA

Bo Ramsey and Greg Brown in Ames, IA

Pretty much the only song I do remember hearing is Here In The Going Going Gone.  As I didn’t possess The Poet Game at the time, it was brand new to my ears. It immediately became one of my favorite Greg Brown songs, in my opinion it’s one of his finest compositions, both musically, but especially lyrically. It was also immediately stuck in my head, so back in my hotel I tried to find a video of it on YouTube, I didn’t find one of his versions but I found this absolute gem of a cover version. I must have watched the video about 10 times that night (and many more since). The guys playing this seem to be only gigging in the Seattle area and I could find very little information about their work, and, sadly, no recording. I was a little bit sceptical about the singer’s voice at first, but have become quite fond of it in the meantime. And that violin is just wonderful. A cover version doing a great song more than justice.

 

The Pines : Tremolo and Dark So Gold

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The Pines are the next in a line of great artists out of the Midwest scene that brought us Greg Brown, Dave Moore and Bo Ramsey, all artists I hold in very high regard indeed, as you will undoubtedly have noticed if you visited my blog before (see here, here or here or have a look at my tag cloud). Not only share two members of the Pines the surname with Bo Ramsey, they are indeed his sons Benson and Alex. Benson is one of two principal songwriters alongside David Huckfelt, his brother Alex can be heard on keyboards and piano. They are based in Minneapolis, also home to their label Red House Records. I have to applaud The Pines for chosing Red House as their label home anyway, as it is perhaps not one of the hippest labels to be on if you are young musicians (which they are). Which of course isn’t to say Red House isn’t a good label as far as I’m concerned, just the opposite as I have come to have a tremendous love for a lot of their artists (and I am by far not finished exploring their roster in more detail).

The fact that the Ramsey brothers and Huckfelt hail from Iowa is very much in evidence in their music and extends to the cover design of both records that feature barns, scarecrows, fields and woods. Given their ages, naturally their sound is a tad more modern than that of the artists mentioned above, although it has to be said, rather marginally so.

Having found out about the Ramsey brothers involvement in The Pines somewhere I wasted no time to do a bit of research and luckily found the live in studio recording of one of Dark So Gold’s best tracks All The While (see my post from a few weeks ago) and I have to say that the live version is actually even a bit better than the one on the album, as it is a perfect rendition with a superb arrangement (see the outstanding and understated percussion work of drummer J.T. Bates for example).

 

The Pines Dark So Gold album cover jpeg

Dark So Gold (2012)

Their style can be described as Gothic Americana Folk, with some moderate blues leanings, and it’s fitting then that I hear traces of Sixteen Horsepower in a number of songs, most notably Be There In Bells, which is one of the few tracks on either album which could almost be described as a rock song – thankfully, and surprisingly given their young age, in my opinion is the fact that they totally avoid the temptation to ‘rock out’ and make do without the usual distorted guitars that more often than not go with bands their age – I for one am very happy about that.

Others hear traces of Ryan Adams in Benson Ramsey’s vocal delivery (Rob at 45spins), a comparison they can probably live with well too, I should imagine.

As mentioned above, instead of turning up their amps, they fortunately prefer to imbue their music with melancholy and a rather peaceful (if sometimes a tad moody), dreamy atmosphere and introspective and rather soft arrangements that don’t sound one bit lifeless or dull. Things are helped further by the skilful acoustic-electric guitar interplay and Alex Ramsey’s keyboard/piano sounds. In contrast to the predecessor Tremolo the band also took on a more hands-on role with producing the album that shows how much they have grown together as a band. Three tracks, Moonrise, IA , Grace Hill and album closer Losing the Stars are rather short instrumental tracks, short in length maybe but high on ambience. Other highlights for me on Dark So Gold are the dark opener Cry Cry Crow, the lovely and slightly uptempo If By Morning and the rather optimistic and catchy and folky Chimes.

 

The Pines Tremolo Cover jpeg

Tremolo, the 2009 predecessor to Dark So Gold doesn’t sound much different compared to their latest release. The main difference being the fact that at this stage The Pines were actually a duo comprised of Benson Ramsey and David Huckfelt also most of the other musicians that can be heard on Dark So Gold are on here as well. Also noteworthy and clearly audible is the bigger role Bo Ramsey does play on here. This can most outstandingly heard on Behind The Time which features one of his trademark sparse, understated and soulful electric guitar solos that literally make the hairs on my arms stand up almost every time I listen to the song – nobody I can think of on top of my head can do that sort of thing better than him. He also does provide the beautiful Weissenborn that can be heard on Lonesome Tremolo Blues.Alex Ramsey’s keyboards are given slightly more space to shape a couple of songs, namely a contemporary update of Mississippi John Hurt’s Spike Driver Blues and album closer Shiny Shoes. The album is chock-full of excellent songs, I especially love the exceedingly tuneful (and fittingly accompanied by brushed drums and/or percussion) songs such as Heart & Bones, Meadows of Dawn and Skipper And His Wife – the latter being written by Spider John Koerner, apparently a semi-legendary Folk artist I wasn’t familiar with at all until recently, but one I will most definitely be investigating in more detail in the near future – Skipper And His Wife being an absolutely wonderful song, although the arrangement on here I suppose is quite different from his.

The Pines offer a very welcome alternative to the myriad Alternative bands around – theirs is not the sound of an urban generation but decidedly just the opposite. Their voice is one infused with true values and a rural background which is pervading pretty much every inch of their sound and making them something rather special and absolutely cherishable in today’s music scene.

http://www.thepinesmusic.com

 

 

The Pines : All The While (Live On 89.3 The Current)

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A brand new discovery for me (they have been around for a few years though), The Pines totally enchanted me with this utterly fabulous and gorgeous version of their song All The While from their 2012 album Dark So Gold, which I don’t know yet, as I have only just ordered it. But if it’s only half as good as this track hints at, you probably will be reading about it on here soon. One of them is also the son of Bo Ramsey whom you can see talked/written about here before. Or here. And a few times more. If you also take into account that they are on Red House Records it’s perhaps no wonder they are this good. Anyway, here it is:

 

Greg Brown : Freak Flag (Video)

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In preparation for my upcoming trip to Nebraska and Iowa which starts tomorrow morning I am posting this video of (one of my) favorite tracks from Greg Brown’s last studio album to date ‘Freak Flag’. Needless to say perhaps that I like it a lot, and I’ve been meaning to write a review and post it on here, but I didn’t have the time to finish it. This video shows Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey in fine form, and I am happy to be able to say that I plan to go and see their show in Ames on the 27th if everything is going according to plan. Should be excellent.

 

 

Dave Moore : Over My Shoulder

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D_Moore_Over

Dave Moore : Over My Shoulder

(Red House Records, 1990)

I recently reviewed Dave Moore’s last album to date Breaking Down To 3 on my bog (check it out here). In comparison with that album on here it’s showcasing a broader variety of musical influences, mainly stemming from his experiences and the time he spent in various countries in Middle and South America. This time clearly left a lasting influence on him and the music on Over My Shoulder, whereas on Breaking Down… these are not really to be heard (I am not familiar yet with his first record Jukejoints and Cantinas form 1984 but judging from the album’s title these influences most probably are on there too).

These South/Middle American and TexMex influences are prevailing on a number of tracks, most notably on Open Your Heart (Abre El Corazon) which seems to have been written/amended by Mexican artist Manuel Guerrero and is based on Buck Owens’ Open Up Your Heart (or the other way around) and El Golfo written by Lolo Cavazos, which is the most authentic Mexican tune performed on here. The song The Mexican Highway is the track bridging these influences (it’s one of a number of songs where Moore also shines on the button accordion) with the Singer-Songwriter, Folk and Blues influences to very fine effect and is one of the melodic highlights on here.

The album starts off though with a track perhaps the clearest indication of what Dave Moore is all about, an immensely gifted acoustic guitar player strongly influenced by Folk-Blues artists the likes of Mississippi John Hurt (who is name-checked on Over My Shoulder) and a warm, rich voice. Just A Dog is a slightly up-tempo song, with some outstanding guitar work, a fiddle providing some memorable sounds and Moore’s expressive vocals (he howls like a dog a number of times). A great opener.

Bukka White’s classic Fixin’ To Die, perhaps most famous in Bob Dylan’s version (to me at least) is given the Dave Moore makeover  – I have to say I like it better than Dylan’s version – and you don’t often hear me saying something to that effect when it comes to Dylan’s early work. I very much like the brilliant slide guitar and harmonica on here.

God Moves On The Water (by Blind Willie Johnson) is updated here very convincingly. I have to admit that I am not familiar with the original version, but Moore’s version is affecting and quietly beautiful, with the Peter Ostroushko’s lovely fiddle sounding very wonderful indeed. The afore-mentioned El Golfo is the only instrumental on here, although it’s maybe a tad too traditional for my taste, but that’s just me, I am far from an expert on this kind of music, my only experiences with it are pretty much from Los Lobos and Calexico records, so don’t mind me.

The next two tracks A Little Hey Dad and Half My Life are a bit more familiar stylistically, both being excellent acoustic Singer/Songwriter/Folk songs, the first one featuring a highly original and brilliant vocal arrangement and Moore’s trademark harmonica which I love a lot (not just on this track, but throughout his work). Half My Life sounds very much like an Old Time Country tune, complete with Western fiddle and saloon piano – it’s a lot of fun to listen to. The tongue-in-cheek Waitresses is a catchy little Folk-Blues ditty holding the flag for the working class high, which is always endearing to me. The Third Candle I Burnt Tonight is another sparsely arranged, gentle ballad on which I especially love Chris Weygand’s standup bass, it’s understated, tasteful and the song is all the better because of that.

The best track on here is the title track, tucked away right at the end of the album. There’s actually an even better version than this available, which I included below (it’s a live recording from The Mill in Iowa City with only Moore and a gorgeous violin by Al Murphy). But the version on here is brilliant too, and as a song it may just the best song Dave Moore has ever written, it definitely is one of my favorites.

Listening to these two records, it’s clear to me that Dave Moore does belong in there with the best of his like and in my opinion it’s very unfortunate and unjustified that he is not as highly regarded or well-known as some of the other Singer/Songwriters and musicians of his generation. I wish he would release another album.