|
Free Country is also available from Highnote Records: jazzdepo@ix.netcom.com, 212-873-2020
| Free Country CD voted #29 in Jazz Times Critics Poll, Best of 2003 |
“Harrison’s arrangements are particularly elastic, finding new strains of elegaic grace and wild anxiety, tender comfort and enduring sadness...he doesn't remove structure, he removes stricture.”
— Marty Hughely - The Oregonian
“Norah Jones adds her soft drawl to a somber, soulful reading of Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line and an equally adventurous Tennessee Waltz. But by the time this transcendent record is over, you nearly forget Jones was even on it. Harrison has created a grand tribute to divergent musical genres, which he shows have more in common than anyone would have guessed.”
— Marcus Croder: Sacramento Bee
“This is a blend of styles that mesmerizes in its mix of blues, jazz, country, and sparse orchestrations; sophisticated and engaging.”
— Jazzscene (4 and a half star review)
“From the first note Harrison shows that American traditional and country music can swing in a Jazz context... his guitar solos are straight from the heart- pure sweat...”
— Biloxi Sun Herald
“This is the creative step beyond Bill Frisell’s omnistyle Appalachian melt... a wild, willful, and often beautiful jazz journey.”
— Jeff Simon: Buffalo News
“Harrison, a terrific guitarist, finds jazzy and spacious new depths in this mesmerizing release.”
— Village Voice
|
Joel Harrison: Free Country
Downtown meets the Heartland
| Announcing the release in Europe and Asia of the new Free Country on the ACT Company label on April 24, 2003. For more information on how to order promo copies contact joel@joelharrison.com.
THE CD IS IN STORES IN AMERICA!
|
Free Country is a collection of old Country and Appalachian tunes arranged in unusual, even radical, ways. Simply put, this body of work is my sonic view of the experiment known as America — not the billboard, but the underbelly.
I love these songs, their pathos, economy, magisterial beauty, sly wisdom, and deep soul. I have tried to be true to their timeless, primal spirit, while illuminating their essence with my own imprint, using every musical device at my disposal. The stylistically unbound sounds goes from meditative and gorgeous, to humorous and haunting, to reckless and intense.
Musicians
Joel Harrison: electric, fretless, steel guitar, and cassette machine
Dave Binney: sax, sampler
Rob Thomas: violin
Sean Conly: bass
Alison Miller: drums
Guests:
Norah Jones: voice
Raz Kennedy: voice
Uri Caine: piano
Tony Cedra: accordion
Free Country is a band that was born 5 years ago in the Stork Club in downtown Oakland amidst perennial Christmas lights, a decrepit posse of toothless regulars, a jukebox full of Patsy Cline, and a handful of brave new music acolytes. There were 2 drummers, two guitarists, a saxophonist, and a fiddle player (I think!), and the band included Adam Levy who now plays with Norah Jones, who is one of the singers on our recording…small world.
The concept has blossomed into a steady group with a large repertoire unlike anything else in the "Jazz" World. The band takes Old country and Appalachian tunes and has its way with them in unusual, sometimes startling, but always interesting ways. George Jones, or, say, Gid Tanner and The Skillet Lickers never sounded like this. Styles crisscross and become a blur, each piece is its own new world and yet still tied into the primal origins of the traditional music.
|
I Walk the Line