Greg Brown - In the Hills of California (Jewl)
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CD Details
Artist: Greg BrownEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-09-07
Music Label: Red House
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- For All
- Wash My Eyes
- Never So Far
- The Way My Baby Calls My Name
- Spring and All
- Slow Food
- Ina Bell Sale
- Tequila and Me
- China
- Introduction to Â?KateÂ?s GuitarÂ?
- KateÂ?s Guitar
- Say a Little Prayer
- You Really Got a Hold on Me
- I Want My Country Back
- I Shall Not Be Moved
- Two Little Feet
- Introduction to Â?Lord I Have Made You a Place in My HeartÂ?
- Lord I Have Made You a Place in My Heart
- Poet Game
- Think About You
- Where Is Maria
- Lullaby
- Almost Out of Gas
- LivinÂ? In a Prayer
- Introduction to Â?Mose Allison Played HereÂ?
- Mose Allison Played Here
- RexrothÂ?s Daughter
- Vivid
- Kind Hearted Woman Blues
- Just By Myself
- Your Town Now
- DonÂ?t Let Me Down
Music reviews of In the Hills of California (Jewl)
Music Review: I Want My Country Back, Too!
Rating: 4 Stars
The last time that the name Greg Brown, singer/songwriter and free-wheeling homespun philosopher appeared in this space was just recently as I found myself publicly `flirting', via cyberspace of course, with his wife the also accomplished singer/songwriter Iris Dement, my 'Arkie Angel' (See my review of her "Infamous Angel" CD). It is all Greg's fault, in any case. I was `introduced' to Iris on his tribute album "Driftless" where she did a cover of "Jimmie Rodgers Going Home" (complete with yodel at the end). So to be absolutely above board and fair I find it necessary to review some of his work
Greg Brown is the kind of folk singer who before I listened to his "Greg Brown Live" album I had not really paid attention to since the days of my early youth when I listened intently to Woody Guthrie whose songs were seemingly forged from the very heart of Americana. As a child of the urban folk revival of the 1960's I got caught up more in the overt political message songs provided by the likes of Bob Dylan or Phil Ochs. Greg has come out of the heartland of America like Woody in a fury to write and sing his tales of love, remembrance, tragedy, desperation and, on occasion, just pure whimsy.
These songs evoke, under more modern conditions to be sure, the days gone by when the community spirit of small town life meant something. A strong bass voice grainy with the trials and tribulations of life lend authenticity to his words, as does strong guitar playing when necessary. Needless to say the variety of topics covered in his songs speak for themselves from Grandma's root cellars to vanishing Iowa family farms to sweaty nights of lovemaking entwined with the up and down battles of love and, of course, the ubiquitous bouts of fishing.
In this CD collection we are treated to another look at many of those above-mentioned topics via Greg's performances over several years (1997-2004) at the annual Kate Wolf Festival held in California since 1996. Thus, if one is unfamiliar with Greg Brown, one can get a full range of his work, some of his best work, as he pays honor to Kate Wolf by his performances, one of the post-1960's most influential folk performers, whose work is still widely covered by contemporary folk singers. Moreover, the group of musicans that back him up on many of the tracks is superior, especially guitarist Nina Gerber.
So what is good here? "Wash My Eyes" and "Two Little Feet" work on Disc One, as does the controlled anger of "I Want My Country Back" and a rocking "I Shall Not Be Moved" to highlight his political perspective. On Disc Two the "Poet's Game" is always a winner (especially that line about the strip malls, the one about that one night stand lady friend up in New Hampshire and of his lost friendship with an unnamed fellow artist) as is "Where Is Maria?" and "Your Town Now".
So much for the music review. Here is the real reason I wrote this frantic review though. I looked at the pictures on the liner notes and noticed that old Greg has been doing some weight lifting or something. He looks like he could play tight end for the Chicago Bears. Hey, Greg male folk singers are suppose to be scrawny and malnourished looking not healthy and ready to do bodily injury if you mess with their women. All this is by way of saying - all that stuff about `flirting' with Iris in any way, shape or form was just whimsy. Okay?
Description of In the Hills of California (Jewl)
One of America?s greatest singer/songwriters returns with one of the finest "live" CDs of roots music ever made...recorded at northern California?s idyllic Kate Wolf Music Festival. The only artist to appear every year in the festival?s history, he has a strong emotional connection to the event and these stunning performances reflect it. 9 tracks are previously unrecorded and the other 20 are classics with all-new and surprising treatments. Proceeds from this project go to support Jugalbandi, a "Music and Arts as Education" program in northern California.Rare is the voice that is both as deep and as warm as Greg Brown's. Though the veteran troubadour boasts the most weather-beaten baritone this side of Johnny Cash, there's sunshine in the smile of his wry phrasing and a disarming playfulness in his work. This two-disc set includes recordings from six years of California's annual Kate Wolf Music Festival and, while it lacks the flow of a single performance, the easy intimacy that the Iowa bard enjoys with his audience offsets any disjointedness from track to track. The generous selection of material (more than two and a half hours) includes nine songs Brown has never recorded before. Highlights range from the sly sensuality of "The Way My Baby Calls My Name" and "Slow Food" to the social commentary of "I Want My Country Back" and the droll evocation of life's ironies in "Where Is Maria." The conviction he brings to Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me" and the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" transforms familiar favorites into testaments of faith. --Don McLeese
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