And the winner is …
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Spencer Lewis wins The Times Argus Tammie for best instrumental album with his "Up on the Mountain." |
Toolbox
By Art Edelstein Arts Correspondent - Published: December 12, 2008
As 2008 draws to a close it is time once again to reward a Tammie (Times Argus Music Award) to those Vermont artists who produced the best of the best in terms of albums. This year there were 19 CDs to review.
Best instrumental album
This year several instrumental albums were reviewed including three jazz-based and one neo-traditional/new age album. We're going to share the award in this category.
Spencer Lewis wins for his album "Up on the Mountain" featuring his violin and guitar work and the cello of Nathaniel Parke. In 2008 Lewis, from Bethel, celebrated his 20th year in the recording business. He has 19 CDs out, a prodigious number for a musician whose performance schedule is fairly slim and limited primarily to Vermont and often only at craft fairs.
Lewis' instrumental work includes simple major-key melodies, which he records on violin overdubbing many tracks. His guitar becomes the rhythmic underpinning for the music, but also plays an essential part in his musical landscape. This approach gives Lewis' recordings a string quartet feel. His music has a lushness of sound, and also a dreamy haziness to the content.
"Up on the Mountain" added a lovely cello component to his presentation. As such, this CD represents Lewis' most extensive explo-ration of the sound of bowed strings against flat-picked guitar. It is a pretty and contemplative CD, one that is full when heard through speakers and even more complicated through headphones as the many parts can be discerned more easily.
We also greatly enjoyed the Will Patton Ensemble's album "6th St. Runaround." The mandolin, often connected to bluegrass or other traditional acoustic music, has appeared in jazz and other ethnic forms of music. Patton, from Bakersfield, plays mandolin and this CD combines jazz motifs along with Brazilian choro music in an ensemble setting that is very successful. Patton is the headliner but guitarist Steve Blair, string bassist Clyde Stats, David Gusakov on violin and drummer Skeeter Camera, along with Anna Patton on clarinet, are all fine performers and this album has a very up-town sophisticated feel. Although mandolin is in the forefront, this is not an album dominated by it. With such fine performers it's a truly ensemble work.
Best rock album
There were not a lot of rock CDs to review this year, but I think Jay Ekis would have won even if many were submitted. His "Touched by War "is excellent. Ekis shows he's been maturing as a lyricist while continuing to deliver very strong vocals. This album encompasses a musical landscape that lands in the aural space occupied by the connected idioms of country, soft rock, folk and southern rock.
Ekis explores personal and social conflict in the nine songs on this 34-minute disc. I hear a bit of the Beatles on the title track, with guitar parts sounding like "Strawberry Fields Forever" and a vocal delivery midway between Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
Ekis has an excellent band behind him with lead guitarist Brian Clark, bassist Rudy Dauth, drummer Phil Carr, keyboardist Ron Rost and singer Mia Adams on one track.
There is something very appealing about his voice and I chalk it up to the Beatles-esque nature of his tone. Not only are there touches of Starr and Harrison but also Paul McCartney as on the acoustic guitar-accompanied track "Bleed." Those were memorable voices and Ekis evokes them in his singing.
As we wrote in the original review, Ekis is a talent ready to step up to the next level. "Touched by War" is the vehicle that could get him there if he chooses that path.
Best country album
The Starline Rhythm Boys have done it again. Last year this popular rockabilly trio won Best Album of the Year for "Red's Place." This year they garner the award for this category for "Live At Charlie-O's World Famous." This CD cooks. If you can't get to a live SRB performance this is the next-best thing. The band's playing is loose but flawless and the ambiance is pure Vermont bar scene. It's a lot of fun. Grab a brew, polish your cowboy boots, and get out on the dance floor!
Best traditional album
The album "I Know Stories" by the trio Bread & Bones proves just how good a folk album can be without adding percussion or whiz-bang studio technology to the recording. What we hear on this CD is excellent singing, superb songwriting and fine, understated instrumentation. This CD was flawless, a joy to listen to in all 13 tracks. Special mention goes to singer-songwriter-guitarist Richard Ruane for his work. Beth Duquette ably backs him on vocals with bassist Mitch Barron pitching in as well.
The music is delivered tastefully with Ruane's acoustic guitar carrying the lion's share of the work and Barron's bass as the aural underpinning. Ruane's guitar work is crisp and emphatic rather than limply strummed. He gets a lot of sound from his often minimalist finger-picking and chord work. Barron is every Vermont folk group's bassist of choice. His work is solid and sensitive.
Duquette's singing should not be slighted although she often takes second chair to Ruane's lead vocals. Hers is a fine clear alto in perfect step with Ruane. Together the two can sing with the best on record and this album is a joy to listen to.
Best blues album
Scott Ainslie wins hands-down for his work on "Thunder's Mouth." He's based in Brattleboro and hasn't gotten much play in this part of the state, but he's as good as it gets in the acoustic blues field. There's a mix of songs from Son House to Robert Johnson, Tom Waits and his own compositions. Ainslie shows that even in rural Vermont we can sing the blues and make it sound authentic.
Special awards
We're not doing a best song this year; there were many good ones yet no song jumped out ahead of its competition. In substitution for Best Album we have two special awards to present.
Lee Jollota wins in the Best First Album category for her long awaited "It's About Time." This CD of country classics comes from a 77-year-old who performed in Vermont and elsewhere for decades. She was encouraged to record this album by producer/instrumentalist Mark Greenberg and we are happy she agreed to come out of retirement. The songs here bring back the music of the 1950s through the early 1960s when this genre really was different from pop music. The songs are classics and Jollota delivers them with obvious affection for the material and a strong sense of how they should be sung. We're waiting for volume two to come out.
Another special award goes to the album "Turning Back Beautiful: The Songs of Diana Winn." Winn's personal story is well known. A singer-songwriter, she lost much of her right arm to a medical mistake after losing her musical partner and husband to cancer. Through it all, she maintains her recording label for children, and continues to write. This is a fine album sung by many of Vermont's great singers. Tammy Fletcher, Juliet McVicker, Sandra Wright and Patti Casey, among others. appear. The songs reflect Winn's many moods and writing styles. Releasing it is a testament to Winn's sprit and talent.
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