Gillian Welch - The Harrow & The Harvest

The "Harrow and the Harvest" is my latest cd purchase. There's been a lot of good buzz about it on the internet, so I thought I should get myself a copy. Gillian Welch is one of the most respected Americana singer/songwriters in the U.S. It's been 8 years since she's put anything out, so this was a very anticipated work and seemed a good time for me to finally buy one of her albums. I won't give a complete review since I'm still giving it a good listen, but let me say this, it's a mature work in both its restrained sonics and in its pointed lyrics. The blending of her voice and that of her long time partner David Rawlings is seamless. It's obvious they've worked our their musical relationship over the years to perfection. Their vocals as well as the playing are simply beautiful. I will make mention of one reference that interests me personally. Track 3 talks about going door to door like a Latter Day Saint. I guess we do have that reputation! At least she referred to us by the more accurate title rather than the typical "Mormon" ID. For a full review that I totally concur with let me refer you to the excellent report by Thom Jureck at AMG:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-harrow--the-harvest-r2219679


I've enjoyed his reviews for many years, finding myself in agreement with him more often than typical critics.

I pulled the front insert from the cd case expecting to find the usual booklet with track listing, lyrics and credits. To my surprise, the thick insert turned out to be hefty card stock without the ability to open up at all. The front and back you see as it sits in the case is what you get! Very tricky! The art work is great and I love the minimalist approach. Mirrors the musical concept of the album perfectly. This album is a very enjoyable listen. Pick it up if you're tired of the same old same old on the radio!

Sound In The Woods

I was hiking the Uintas a couple of weeks ago with my friend Cody. He'd brought along some mini self-powered speakers with the idea of playing Tab Choir music from his I-Pod during our evening meal. Unfortunately his I-Pod had lost it's charge so he was unable to follow thru with the idea, but the thought wasn't an entirely lost cause. It inspired me to find something similar for use in my own wilderness adventures, and knowing I had an up-coming outing with my grandsons Josh and Matt, I decided to be on the look-out for something like what he had. I wanted to have that capability because Josh and Matt have become fans of the Mormon Channel program "Everything Creative" with hosts Nancy Hanson and Ryan Tilby. We've listened to it on some of our previous outings by sharing ear buds, but that only allows 2 at a time to listen. I was looking for a compact, battery powered sound system that would allow all to listen at the same time. I got lucky and stumbled onto this ArtDio brand I-Pod player at Tuesday Morning the day before our scheduled outing to Washington Lake. This little unit has 2 small speakers at the ends of the tube you see pictured. It runs on 4 AAA batteries. It came with batteries, but it had been sitting so long that they'd started leaking and were no good. Hey, it only cost $7.99 so no big loss! You don't find brand new stuff at Tuesday Morning, it's an outlet for items that didn't sell well in typical retail stores, so I didn't have high expectations for the sound quality of this "boom box" and was quite pleasantly surprised by how clear and clean it plays. No bass to speak of, but that's to be expected from speakers less than 2" in diameter! So how is this post a musical musing? The programs we listened to on our camp out were both interviews with musicians, so I think it qualifies. We heard Nancy's wonderful discussion with Janice Kapp Perry and we also listened to Ryan's documentary format interview that featured Justin Cash and Jon Schmidt. These programs were both entertaining and inspiring. It gave us something very worthwhile to do in the tent before bed time. We retired to the tent earlier than you would normally do if you were camping in the summer. It gets dark and chilly pretty early this time of year! Listening to these programs added greatly to the bonding time we had out in the wilds, and it sure beat playing cards, especially since no one thought to bring any! Also, if you think I'm recommending "Everything Creative", you'd be right!