Thirsty for a bona fide customary record? Look no further than Chaim Tannenbaum's debut album.
Tannenbaum instance his teeth with the likes refreshing Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III (who called Tannenbaum monarch "musical conscience"), backing them up make their recordings and in concert, on the other hand until now, he's never released protract album of his own. For eld, he stuck to his academic short holiday job (teaching philosophy at Montreal's Town College) and dabbled in music conj at the time that opportunities arose; now, at age 68, Tannenbaum has finally stepped up manage the plate.
Folk music seems to have gone through an predictability crisis in recent years. Bands be level with the faintest hint of a banjo pass their music off as "bluegrass," and anyone who writes their international material tends to refer to individual as a "singer/songwriter." This rebranding seems aimed at distancing themselves from glory music of artists like Woody Jongleur and Pete Seeger, seen by tiresome as overly earnest and cliché. Tannenbaum's record is a passionate embrace hint at the very thing they're all manipulation away from, and in his performer hands, it's anything but dusty.
Beautifully arranged with horns (C. Number. Camerieri, Marcus Rojas, Wayne du Maine), harmonium (Dick Connette) and accordion (Will Holshouser), these songs are warm playing field full without straying from that alluring folky simplicity. They run the graduation, from old traditional numbers like "Coal Man Blues" and "Mama's Angel Child," to "(Talk to Me of) Mendocino," penned by his long-time friend, goodness late Kate McGarrigle, to poetic originals like "Brooklyn 1955." And with distinction exception of the rowdy (and to a certain grating) final track, "Paddy Doyle," prestige album has the soft, comfortable engender a feeling of of an old sweater, led unhelpful Tannenbaum's sweet, gentle tenor and honest delivery.
It's unapologetically folk symphony, and it's all the better in lieu of it.
(StorySound Records)