Tonight @ Valentine's, Album Review: Southern Flavor

Americana Tuesdays tonight @ Valentine's

featuring

The Blackwell Sinners

Michael Eck

Dan Johnson and his Expert Sidemen

***

News Flash

Dan and his Expert Sidemen Record Album!

Some of you might have missed it yesterday, so I'll mention it again. This Sunday, Dan Johnson and his Expert Sidemen are going into Bender Studios in Delmar, NY, to start recording a brand new album with engineer Sten Isachsen. We've got 12 songs picked out that we're very excited to be putting on record. We'd like to invite you to lend us a hand if you're so inclined: money is great, but we also could use help with art, distribution, and promotion. Drop us a line at americana.music.club@gmail.com or stop down to Americana Tuesdays. 

-Music Desk

***

Album Review: Southern Flavor

Bill Monroe's Southern Flavor provides a useful reference for contemporary bluegrass musicians. Recorded in the late eighties, this album provides a valuable insight into the way Monroe conceived of bluegrass music, particularly at a time when it was largely obscured by even it's closest relatives. While bluegrass continues to maintain a somewhat clandestine presence in Americana culture, those who love the music seek out the true branches, listening intently for the ancient tones. This album presents to us a mature portrait of what Monroe had developed, as well as a sign post for where he expected the music to go. 

One lesson that Southern Flavor has for contemporary bluegrass musicians is in the simplicity of the instrumental parts. On the ballads, the instrumental mandolin parts are very straight and unadorned, adhering closely to the melody of the song. In doing so, the voice of each instrument rings clearly, because it is not overwhelmed by technique. On "The Days Gone By" Bill starts his break with a barking syncopated double stop, but then seems to reconsider, and decides to play the melody in a straight tremolo. The rest of the breaks on this album are characterized by a similar restraint. The liner notes say the album was "[r]ecorded digitally using the Mitsubishi X-850 32 track system, without overdubs or the use of earphones. Every effort was made to capture these songs 'live,' as they were performed, without alteration." The fact that there are double and triple fiddle parts throughout the album precludes improvisation on the fiddle parts. The banjo parts similarly adhere to the melody with a simplicity that is easy to overshoot. The live-to-tape recording made it necessary for the arrangements to be simple, well-rehearsed, and essential. Extraneous or ornamental parts would have unnecessarily complicated the takes, and would have added little to the actual heart of the music.

The instrumentals are all Monroe originals, and it is in these four pieces that I think contemporary string players might look most for renewed direction in bluegrass music. All of the mandolin on this album emphasizes right hand rhythm over fancy left hand work. The predominant feature of the mandolin technique on this album is tremolo. This tremolo is so filled with light and shade that it could be a life time study unto itself, without ever considering how Monroe puts notes into it. Monroe's mandolin on this album playing emphasizes the rhythm and drive of the melody over ornamentation. In other words, it's more substance than style. Listening to his earlier recordings, we can hear that Monroe went through phases where he delved more deeply into ornamentation. Southern Flavor, though, stands as a model of a style of mandolin playing that might not attract much attention, but stands the test of time.

Every contemporary bluegrass musician, for pay or play, makes a reckoning with Monroe's legacy. Southern Flavor presents many aspects of this legacy: repertoire, technique, attitude, arrangement, harmony. Above all though, the mandolin (or string) player can look to this album for a deep study in finding depth in simplicity.

Southern Flavor

1988 MCA Records

Produced by Emory Gordy, Jr.

track listing:

Stone Coal (Monroe)

Life's Highway (Bobby Smith)

What a Wonderful Life (Raymond Huffmaster)

Texas Lone Star (Monroe)

Give me Wings (Gerald Evans)

Sugar Loaf Mountain (Bill Monroe)

White Rose (Carl Butler)

The Days Gone By (Bill Monroe)

Southern Flavor (Bill Monroe)

Take Courage Un' Tomorrow (Arr. by Bill Monroe)

Bill Monroe: Mandolin, tenor vocals, lead vocal on "White Rose"

Tom Ewing: Acoustic guitar, lead vocals

Blake Williams: Banjo, baritone vocals

Clarence "Tater" Tate: Acoustic bass (except *), bass vocals

Bobby Hicks: Fiddle

Buddy Spicher: Fiddle

Mike Feagn: Fiddle

*Emory Gordon: Acoustic bass on "What a Wonderful Life," "Give me Wings," and "Take Courage Un' Tomorrow"

The instrumental "Southern Flavor"