White Knuckles

The Bacon Brothers latest release is more restrained and introspective than most of their earlier opuses meant less for the bar than the lounge. The songs here are more laid back exhibiting more reflection and regret than swagger and bravado. They haven’t lost sight of their backwoods hillbilly roots but on these songs they’ve been deeper into their corn liquor. Although their band boasts six musicians their music is still lyric driven and story-telling still pervades. Thanks to the online availability of their music on Amazon it easier to get their CD’s. Being independent may work for them but creates a challenge for their fans.

Amy Beach was a child prodigy born in the year of Canada’s Confederation into a distinguished New England family. In spite of her obvious talent her career was suppressed by her gender and the wishes of her husband. Her concert career was curtailed at her husband’s request so she learned to express herself through composition. Her music is good regardless of gender considerations. Had she been given the opportunity to benefit from superior training she could have been great. The Piano Concerto and “Gaelic” Symphony represented in the present recording take back seats to no one. Her career as a concert pianist and composer may have been ground breaking for a woman but her music transcends gender.

The Bacon Brothers

Six Degrees of Separation becomes brotherhood when it comes to the Bacon Brothers CD’s. Kevin Bacon is better known for his acting chops in over 70 ensemble cast movies. His brother Michael, a cellist and composer, is the musician of the duo. Their self-deprecating folksy, familial, collegiate style defies easy categorization and their CD’s are not readily available locally but they’re worth the effort.

No word on what Betsy and Kyra think about “Woman’s Got a Mind to Change”. As enjoyable as I’ve found their music over the years since the release of Forosco ten years ago listening to the brothers introduce their songs and comment on the context that led to their composition adds immeasurably to the experience. The DVD version of this live concert is even more fun. Forosco, by the bye is a brand of guitar pick.

For more or to hear samples:

http://www.baconbros.com/

New Moon

Listening to New Moon, the posthumous CD by Elliott Smith evokes emotions that remind me of those engendered by listening to the music of Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. All were shy, talented and enjoy more success in death than in life. One is struck by a sense of melancholy and loss, mourning for the wasted potential. I can only hope those who handle Elliott Smith’s estate respect his memory sufficiently to restrain themselves in warming over material Elliott would have released while he lived if he had felt it deserved exposure. Unfortunately those who have access to the others have not exercised such good taste milking experimental tracks to feed a hungry fan base.

Listening to this recording conjures up a sense of melancholy just as does watching Jeff Buckley’s Live at Chicago or listening to Drakes’ Bryter Layter. Is it prior knowledge of what happened to these individuals or is the depression infectious? Certainly the texts of some of these ballads are freighted with heavy meaning. Why would such gifted artists feel such lack of confidence in their own abilities and live such self-destructive lifestyles. One can just imagine Elliott throwing up in the bathroom before going on stage to perform at the Oscars—appearing on that show must have been torture. Whether or not the death of any of these artists was self-inflicted one has a sense of a light flaring so brightly that it cannot sustain intensity.

These three are in a long unhappy tradition of musicians who died young but these three share an uncanny similarity in acoustic style, musicianship, and hauntingly plaintive solo laments. There is a sense of depression, longing, and gloom infused in their performance. “No man is an island… …Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”