Turn! Turn! Turn!

Original image of Jolie Holland and Anna Moss by There Stands the Glass.

I immersed myself in sweeping swathes of sound at the Folk Alliance International Conference when I wasn’t working on a related story that will air soon on KCUR. The choose-your-own-adventure component of the expansive annual summit is enormously appealing. In addition to conventional American folk, I heard Scottish balladeers, Ukrainian hurdy-gurdy, Italian chamber music and Malaysian bedroom pop. I’ve ranked my favorite of the approximately fifty performances I took in at the industry gathering.

1. Willi Carlisle (My Instagram clip.)

2. Jolie Holland (photo above)

3. Justin Adams and Mauro Durante (My Instagram clip.)

4. Trond Kallevåg (My Instagram clip.)

5. Louisa Stancioff (My Instagram clip.)

6. Ensemble Sangineto (My Instagram clip.)

7. Allysen Callery (Sandy Denny lives.)

8. Scott H. Biram (My Instagram clip.)

9. Humbird (political prog-folk)

10. Mitsune (My Instagram snapshot.)

The conference is leaving Kansas City. A friend invited me to join him in Montreal for next year’s conference. It’s a tempting proposition.

Radio Operator: Inside the Making of an Audio Feature

Original image of Barnaby Bright by There Stands the Glass.

My work with KCUR resumed with a feature about the Folk Alliance International Conference told through the perspective of the locally based band Barnaby Bright.  A few additional details and insights related to the construction of the story follow.

*The text and the audio components of the feature are distinct items. I encourage you to consume both elements.

*The principal characters in the story were uncommonly accommodating.  They’re lovely people.

*Longtime readers of There Stands the Glass understand that I’m not particularly fond of pop-tinged folk.  Yet I can’t get Barnaby Bright’s hook-laden songs out of my head.

*Fun bit of trivia: the notable operatic tenor Ben Bliss is the brother of Barnaby Bright’s Becky Bliss.

*I hadn’t previously realized that Barnaby Bright’s Nathan Bliss is an astounding musician.

*More bands would benefit from the addition of harmoniums.

*Carlos Moreno’s excellent images compensate for my incompetence as a photographer.

*Partly because I was required to self-isolate this week due to illness, KCUR editor Luke Martin did almost all of the heavy lifting.

Uptown Folk

Original image of Jake Blount by There Stands the Glass.

God willing, the actual purpose of my enormous time investment and, alas, personal health sacrifice at last week’s Folk Alliance International Conference will soon materialize.  Until then, I’ll share a blind item.

Jake Blount’s official showcase was packed.  I fruitlessly inquired about empty seats as I shuffled from the back of the room toward the stage.  I wound up sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with fans who claimed spots on the floor up front.  Discomfort was rendered irrelevant by Blount’s brilliance.  

Blount opened his enthralling set with a lament about the Middle Passage delivered over a grim drone.  I soon became aware of discontented harrumphing from a man seated immediately behind me who apparently didn’t care for Blount’s unconventional approach.

The protest wasn’t out of place.  I was almost certainly among a small minority at the conference who wanted to hear sonic disruption.  I turned to identify the malcontent at the conclusion of Blount’s set.  I was amazed and delighted to discover the dissenter was an octogenarian folk legend.

For the record, here’s a ranked listing of the artists responsible for my ten favorite performances at the conference: Jake Blount, Verónica Valerio, Sara Curruchich, Jennifer Knapp, Kris Drever, Kitty Macfarlane, OKCello, Barnaby Bright, Harry Manx and Talibah Safiya.

Album Review: The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits

I was taken aback by the multitude of performers with languishing careers while attending the Folk Alliance International Conference in 2017 and 2018.  Dozens of musicians forecast as can’t-miss stars in previous decades played poorly-attended showcases for handfuls of distracted DJs and music journalists.

The Kansas City musician Scott Hrabko knows the score.  He doesn’t pretend to be a fresh-faced greenhorn.  Sounding precisely like what he is- a well-read, middle-aged Midwesterner- Hrabko displays relaxed maturity on his new album The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits.

Hrabko and his cohorts compare favorably to heavy hitters on the unassuming recording.  “RSVP” evokes the outsider sounds of Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits.  “Los Estados Destrozados” recalls the hard-knock songs of Mark Eitzel.  “The Bells” is in the harrowing tradition of Townes Van Zandt.  

The playful “UFOhio,” the lovely instrumental “North Star,” the solid punchlines of “Punch Drunk Mosquito,” the funk goof “Are They Friendly Spirits” and the demented yacht rock of “Dog in the Backyard” forestall folk fatigue.  Even so, consuming all 22 songs on The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits in one sitting is taxing.

Performances are a different matter.  Should I find myself at another folk conference, I’ll avoid sets by delusional singer-songwriters who dream about joining the likes of Ray LaMontagne on the theater circuit.  Instead, I’ll turn my attention to hardscrabble realists like Hrabko.