The Wexford Carols : "It brings extra beauty in our home."

‘Ireland’s greatest Christmas music’ is written on the back of the CD I have in front of me.

Yes, it is Christmas music, but naming this a Christmas album would not honor this album enough. A Christmas album is one that gets played in the appropriate period and then disappears in the attic for a year, together with all the decorations. This album does not fit that picture. No, it will find its place between all my CD’s, because it is not merely a great ‘Christmas album’, it simply is … ‘a great album’.

“Another victim of time, this Devereux carol is no longer sung in Wexford and its tune has been forgotten.”

This quote about ‘A virgin queen in Bethlehem’ in the booklet represents maybe the importance of this album. Caitríona O’Leary has been fascinated by the Wexford Carols for over 20 years, and brings them back to live. She has done a lot of research to bring this music, with the utmost respect to the original tunes. This fact alone makes it a must have, since the original music seemed lost. 

But there is much more. I have been listening to it now for a couple of weeks and it brings extra beauty in our home.

I had never heard Caitríona’s music. She has a wonderful voice, and an amazing vocal range. The first words of opening track ‘Tell Shepherds’ immediately set the atmosphere. With merely these 2 words she grabs your attention, and keeps it for the entire album. 

She is accompanied on the album by 3 guests. Rhiannon Giddens brings us a wonderful version of  ‘Now to conclude our Christmas Mirth’, Tom Jones sings ‘The Angell said to Joseph Mild’ like I never heard him sing before, and Rosanne Cash gently lays me down on a pillow with ‘Behold three kings’.  Apart from these songs, they all bring their welcome contribution to several songs. 

Lots of great ‘listening’ songs, but also songs like ‘An angel this bright Midnight’ which is a very rhythmical, hypnotic and joyful song, and in the end ‘Christmas day is come’ swings us to the closing track of the album : ‘The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol’, which is sung by these four wonderful voices in close harmony. 

Joe Henry produced this album, and he did it with the same respect Caitríona treated the history of The Wexford Carols. He also brought in longtime collaborator and Sound engineer Ryan Freeland. It’s like not 1 instrument or voice is pushed to the back. You can hear it all so clear, each littlest sound. It’s like all these musicians are live in the room with me.  They all deserve a big applause. And yes, I will name all of them, so stand up : Dónal Lumny, John Smith, Adrian Hart, ´Éamonn de Barra, Kate Ellis, Greg Cohen, Mel Mercier and Graham Hopkins. (I hope I didn’t forget anyone)

All this delivered with a wonderful lay-out. Even the booklet got the deserved treatment. Great photos by Laelia Milleri, accompanied by info on the separate tunes and history on the Carols.

If all this doesn’t convince you to get this album, then still do, and listen to it. That will do the trick.

Now let’s give it another spin.

'Worthy' By Bettye Lavette

Info on Bettye Lavette's new album is coming in

releasedate : January 27, 2015

On the album we will find also Bettye's version of the Joe Henry song  'stop'.

On Worthy, Bettye revisits Dylan with the opening track Unbelievable, with a funky urgency introduced into the song, not present in the original. On When I Was a Young Girl, she slides effortlessly into a slinky groove which Chris Youlden of Savoy Brown probably never imagined. Bless Us All is as relevant now as when Mickey Newbury wrote it decades ago, while her rendition of Joe Henry's own Stop is jazzy, soulful and reminds one not to dare try to stop her. The musicians on the album all brought their A-game to the plate: Jay Bellerose on drums and percussion, Doyle Bramall II on guitar, Chris Bruce on bass and Patrick Warren on Piano, Hammond organ and Chamberlin.

Worthy is comprised of a special selection of songs making for an extremely reflective, visceral, yet at the same time, vulnerable album. Where a Life Goes is a conversation between Bettye and her deceased sister. When she sings the Lennon/McCartney track Wait and the title track Worthy, Bettye is at her most insightful and satisfied. Perhaps, the most heart-wrenching tunes of the lot may be Undamned filled with quiet desperation, and Just Between You and Me and the Wall You're a Fool, on which she wears her tattered and battered heart on her sleeve.(Source)

Tracklist

• Unbelievable
• When I Was A Young Girl
• Bless Us All
• Stop
• Undamned
• Complicated
• Where A Life Goes
• Just Between You And Me And The Wall You're a Fool
• Wait
• Step Away
• Worthy

There will also be a Deluxe Edition which also includes a live DVD of a Lavette concert from June 2014 at the Jazz Cafe in London.

Update January 3, 2015
Great article on the recordings, technical info also. 


Update January 13, 2015
Interview with Bettye Lavette for Deep Soul Express  with an entire song analysis.


About hooking u again with Joe :
“We’ve always talked about doing another album, but the company kept coming up with other ideas. When we met at Carnegie Hall, at the Paul Simon tribute, a while back, we thought that it would be a good idea to do it now.” 

About "Stop" :
I had asked to do it on the first Anti- thing, but then they decided it was going to be all women songs.  The next thing was with Drive-By Truckers, and they didn’t want Stop on that.  The next thing was the British songs, and of course it wasn’t going on that.  On the last one the producer himself didn’t want it on it, so now I said ‘okay Joe, I’m gonna bring up a tune I’ve been trying to bring up for ten years and see, if you go for it’.  He said ‘well, I’m not going to turn it down’.” 

Nell Robinson & the Rose of No Man's Land

I missed this one apparently.

Joe Henry produced Nell Robinson's new album 'Nell Robinson & the Rose of No-Man's Land.'
It was already recorded back in 2012, I think. And at that moment Nell was already working on it for 4 years.



Now, the Album will finally be released on November 4th.

Read the pressrelease. (which already dates from september I think).

Next to Nell, the album features : two-time Grammy Winner & National Medal of Arts recipient Ramblin’ Jack Elliott; actor, poet and musician John Doe; actor and songwriter Kris Kristofferson; as well, award-winning author Maxine Hong Kingston; and acclaimed actress Kathy Baker. 

Joe Henry used her performing band as well as other musicians including: Grammy-winning Greg Liesz on slide guitar, bluegrass favorite Jim Nunally (guitar, vocals); Levon Henry on clarinet; string stalwart Keith Little (mandolin, vocals); bassist David Piltch,  Zach Harmon (percussion); and Craig Eastman on fiddle.  


About the album :
The songs of 'Nell Robinson & The Rose of No-Man’s Land' integrate the heritage of her own Alabama family serving in 250 years of war. Most of the source material for the songs are from archived letters, documents, mementos and generational lore, all centered on war and service. Beginning with Revolutionary War to the present. 

Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell wrote two original songs for the album. 1 song (Happy to go) Robinson wrote together with Jim Nunally.  Next to that there are a few orginals songs by Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe.

The album will be  presented november 1th in the center for the arts, Grass Valley, CA95945
On Stage, Nell Robinson will be acompanied by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Joyce Maynard, and her band, featuring Jim Nunally (guitar), Jim Carlin (bass), Zach Harmon (percussion) and Levon Henry (clarinet, saxophone). Pete Grant of Auburn will sit in on slide guitar for this show. (source)

Some pictures of this event.

Post by The Center for the Arts.

Also : Earlier this year, a PBS crew taped Nell Robinson & the Rose of No-Man’s Land at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage Coffee House. It will be a segment of a 2015 show on PBS called “Music Gone Public.”

 Prelisten 2 stunning tracks from the album

Update November 12

Nell Robinson on working with Joe :(source)

"....The recording process was both magical and deeply scary. Joe Henry and his family and the musicians he brought in made me feel so comfortable. Joe brought an ease to the process, an organic approach that I loved. He left the mics on even during rehearsals and sometimes we just entered a song in an unplanned way…and that was it. I had been singing these songs for a few years, and in a particular style, mostly bluegrass arrangements. When I was preparing to record with Joe, I wanted to break out of my habits and be completely open to where Joe might take the process. So I worked with a jazz musician to reinterpret traditional versions and rhythms for songs like “Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier.” Jim Nunally was incredibly helpful, he and I ran each song in several keys. The first song we recorded in the studio was “Blue-Eyed Boston Boy,” and I don’t think that went very well to start with. I was singing in a key I was not accustomed to and I felt vulnerable and nervous. Later, adding my harmonies to John Doe and Jack Elliott’s [vocals], these guys are so good and so experienced that I felt unworthy...."

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Joe Henry on Vintage Guitars

There is one thing I absolutely adore seeing with people during a conversation. It is the twinkle in their eyes when they start talking about their passion, I just love listening to them. I think Joe has that twinkle when it comes  around to vintage guitars. Those of you who know Joe a little bit, know his love for these wonderful instruments.

I wanted to ask Joe to talk a little bit about his passion, and I had that opportunity. Therefore I need to send out a big thank you to Joe’s management for making this article possible.

          - But mostly, of course, thank you Joe Henry for offering these insights!

JH: There is much to address here; but to begin…guitars are very romantic things to me: mysterious and evolving; no two alike –even two of the same model and vintage. They all have something different to tell you, and invite different things from you.

          - In Fretboard Journal n°26 you said: “I knew that on his first record Bob Dylan played a Gibson J-50 and I was deeply invested in Woody Guthrie at that time”₍₁₎ . Did your love for vintage guitars started with seeing your heroes play them?

JH: When I was young and impressionable –in that way that only a naïve young person can be—sure: I made note of what guitars my heroes played –for style as much as sound; and I noted early on that Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan and Robert Johnson all played not only Gibson guitars, but most specifically, small-bodied models: Woody long-associated with a mid 30s Gibson L-00; Bob Dylan –in his seminal years 1963-1966—almost exclusively playing a Gibson Nick Lucas Special from 1930 (same body shape as Woody’s L-00, but fancier and with deeper body dimensions; and Robert Johnson most notably associated with a late-20s Gibson L-1 –a precursor to the L-00. And because I admired these artists so greatly, I found the similarities in their choices to be significant, and formed an attachment to the idea of these models.

          - But it was only later on in your life, that you got to play such instruments yourself?

JH: I was in my mid 40s, honestly, before I ever saw or played ANY of them in person. I responded to them romantically, and then discovered that their unique sound –owing to light construction, short body scale, etc., contributed to a feel and the harmonic overtones that I found speak so vividly to me.

          - Thinking about it, the evolution of your love for these vintage guitars, (and probably any man’s passion) I see a comparison to ‘falling in love’ with a person, which then slowly grows into ‘loving’ a person.

JH: Yes, One does grow into the relationship with an instrument like one does with a person; and it is part of the magic of the convergence.

”Tom Waits is right, of course”

During Joe’s last concert in Boston someone in the audience asked about his guitar. He said that “his Gibson was from 1935 and his other guitar was custom built from mahogany wood that was salvaged from a sunken ship….”₍₂₎

            - The story triggered my curiosity. So I couldn’t resist asking if it was a true story.
 

JH: the story is completely true –about a new Martin 000-17 from their custom shop. It was made from what they refer to as “sinker mahogany,” which literally means it was dredged from the bottom of a lake/channel/ocean, dried/cured for years, then used for guitar construction.

              - I really need to look up some more about that, it intrigues me. You know, even if it was just a story, Tom Waits would probably say: “does it really improve the story if it’s true?”₍₃₎

JH: He is right, of course, that the truth of the story doesn’t make the guitar sound better.

I did search some more info on Sinker Mahogany, and especially for these Martin Custom guitars. “Sinker Mahogany has its origins in the Central American country of Belize roughly 300 years ago when the British felled massive, 250-300 year-old trees ideal for shipbuilding.” ₍₄₎ Read the full story at the hub . A wonderful and amazing story.

Over the last years, Joe has also found a love for new guitars. New guitars based on Vintage guitars.  New Era guitars designs and makes custom guitars. Joe is 1 of their clients. This relationship has grown into some ’Joe Henry signature’ guitars, which are all based on vintage models.  

“It is turning into something quite special and should continue to. I have never had a romance with a new instrument, but am with this one.”₍₅₎

And it did continue. Fretboard Journal had, just recently, an interview with Tony Klassen, the beating heart behind New Era Guitars. 

TK: It’s been a real pleasure working with Joe. He loves my work, and often will give me little updates on the guitars, his travels, recordings and the people who get to play them. It’s very exciting for me. Our first project together was taking the Senorita S-6 and converting it to a 12-fret version. Without Joe’s input I don’t think I would have ventured to do this. The outcome was pretty amazing and really changed the tone of the Senorita. Mellow, deep and responsive. Our next project will be another 12 fret configuration of a 1930s Tonk Washburn. I can’t wait!₍₆₎

           - So a new Joe Henry signature guitar is coming up, and of course, also we can’t wait. Could you give a little more info about it?

JH: It is still in the design phase, but Tony and I are working on a model together based on a Regal guitar from the mid-30s, but with variations based on my favorite Gibson guitars –most notably a short-scale.

In that same fretboard interview₍₆₎ Tony Klassen gave away, that Joe has named the guitar ‘The Bellwether’.
These days, in sociology, a bellwether refers to a person or group who tends to create, influence or set new trends.
Is there a more wonderful name you can give to a musical instrument?
 
 
           - One last question Joe: Do you know in advance, for certain songs, which guitar will sound best for a tune? Or is it more like ‘trial and error’?

JH: I have many guitars out on stands all over my house and studio; and when I am working on a new song, I walk around and frequently play what I am working on on different guitars; and then invariably I’ll hear it more fully in one particular instrument. “Oh, it’s in THIS one,” I say, then focus with that guitar.

  

Sources:
(1)    www.fretboardjournal.com (issue 26)
(2)    http://concertmanic.com/2014/07/08/concert-review-joe-henry-6272014/
(3)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9kWrB6D0bQ (3:20 min)
(4)    http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/featured-private-reserve-guitars/martin-custom-sinker-mahogany-dreadnought-crafted-with-rare-wood-retrieved-from-the-depths
(5)    http://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/online/joe-henrys-ark-new-era-guitars
(6)    http://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/online/bench-press-new-era-guitars
And also thank you David, for showing directions to lots of info.