NORMAN BLAKE
''WOOD, WIRE, & WORDS''
JANUARY 20 2015
49:08
1 Savannah Rag 03:30
2 The Incident At Condra's Switch 03:47
3 The Keeper Of The Government Light On The River 04:59
4 The New Dawning Day 03:23
5 There's A One Way Road To Glory 04:08
6 Farewell Francisco Madero 04:53
7 Blake's Rag 03:41
8 Joseph Thompson Hare On The Natchez Trace 04:06
9 Grady Foresters Store 05:00
10 Chattanooga Rag 02:42
11 Black Bart 04:22
12 Cloverdale Plantation March 04:30
ABOUT
Plectrafone Records, the Old Time Country Division of Western Jubilee Recording Company, Proudly Presents: Norman Blake, Wood, Wire & Words
The first recording of original Blake songs in over 30 years by America’s Old Time Country Musician.
An unvarnished recording written and performed by Norman Blake and guitar. Includes a selection written and performed with Nancy Blake
Two Rags - One March & Eight Old Time Songs
(recently composed)
“Kind of a downer if you listen to the words” - Norman Blake
“I will continue to champion Norman Blake to the end of my days.” - T Bone Burnett
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek, AMG
In 2004, Norman Blake concluded an interview with CMT by saying, "Long ago, I decided I had no future trying to be a guitar gun. I never did like it in the first place...I always liked music more than technique." That's saying a lot for a man who has been playing professionally since the '50s with Mother Maybelle, June Carter Cash, and Anita & Helen Carter, among others, and he's played on iconic records by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and John Hartford, to name just three. On Wood, Wire & Words, his first recording of all-original pieces since 1974's Fields of November, Blake makes plain the statement above. This set is solo save for one track: the fine country-gospel number "There's a One Way Road to Glory," co-written with his wife Nancy Blake, who also sings harmony on it. He plays his signature Martin 000-28B and a 1928 Martin 000-45. Blake's singing voice is slightly weathered but still expressive and soulful in its trademark understatement. His guitar playing, as usual, is unassailable and deliberately slower; it effortlessly fits these well-crafted songs that are rooted deeply in the Southern soil. There are two tracks he cut previously: "Savannah Rag" is played in a fingerpicked style this time around, and "Chattanooga Rag," previously recorded on a six-string banjo, is played with bare fingers. But it's his story songs that resonate most. "Keeper of the Government Light on the River" is about a man who could support a family for $15 a month. "The Incident at Condra's Switch," a tale about a train robbery, is one of several excellent outlaw ballads on the record. It tells of an older, wilder, and more easily understood America. Outlaw ballad "Black Bart" unfolds gradually. The first-person narrative is replete with scenic imagery, personas, archetypes, and an outlook that ironically bridges the nation's from past to present. Another one, "Joseph Thompson Hare on the Old Natchez Trace," is about a gunslinger who traveled from the Northeast to the Deep South only to find himself at the end of a hangman's noose in Baltimore. The set's most compelling cut, however, is one from the time of the Mexican Revolution. "Farewell Francisco Madero," with its lilting mariachi intro, gets transposed it into a more conventional, minor-key folk ballad, but Blake's lyrics are riveting; his delivery is haunted and beguiling, making the distance between place and time melt into the ether: all that's left is now. "Grady Forester's Store and Cotton Gin" is autobiographical. Again, Blake's words erase the intervening years and take the listener directly back to that period and the inside of his experience. For Blake's fans, Wood, Wire & Words sounds like the album he's wanted to make for decades. For those who love American folk music but are unfamiliar with his work, there has never been a better argument for making this a starting place and moving backward.
BIOGRAPHY
by Kurt Wolff, AMG
Although he is proficient with a variety of stringed instruments, Norman Blake is famous for his acoustic guitar skills -- he was one of the major bluegrass guitarists of the '70s. Blake came into view in the late '60s, when he began performing as a sideman with artists as diverse as June Carter and Bob Dylan. During the '70s, he began a solo career that quickly became one of the most popular and musically adventurous within bluegrass. He continued recording and performing -- occasionally with his wife, Nancy -- well into the '90s. Blake began playing music professionally when he was 16 years old, joining the Dixieland Drifters as a mandolinist in 1954; the group debuted on Tennessee Barn Dance, a radio show based in Knoxville. After two years, he left the band and became a member of the Lonesome Travelers, which was led by banjoist Bob Johnson. By the end of the '50s, the Lonesome Travelers had added a second banjoist, Walter Forbes, and had made two records for RCA. Although he joined Hylo Brown & the Timberliners in 1959, Blake continued to perform with Johnson. The following year, he also became a member of June Carter's touring band.
In 1961, Blake was drafted into the Army, where he was stationed in Panama. While he was in the service, he was a radio operator on the Panama Canal and he formed a band called the Kobbe Mountaineers. The band became a popular attraction and was voted the best band in the Caribbean Command. In 1962, Blake recorded 12 Shades of Bluegrass with the Lonesome Travelers while he was on leave. He was discharged from the Army the following year and moved to Nashville. Once he was in Nashville, Blake joined Johnny Cash's band. That same year, he married Nancy Short and settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For the next few years he played with Cash, both on recordings and concerts. In 1969, Bob Dylan hired Blake to play on his country-rock album Nashville Skyline, providing the guitarist a whole new audience. That audience expanded even further when he became Cash's main guitarist on the singer's television show. Cash's program featured a wide array of musical guests, who were often impressed with Blake's talents. Kris Kristofferson asked him to join his touring band and Norman did so, playing both guitar and Dobro; he also played on several of Kristofferson's records. Blake also played on several of Joan Baez's records, including her hit version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
Following his folk and country-rock experiments, Blake returned to his bluegrass roots in 1971 when he joined John Hartford's band, Aeroplane, which also featured fiddler Vassar Clements. Aeroplane fell apart quickly, but Blake stayed with Hartford for a year and a half. In 1972, Norman recorded his first solo album, Back Home in Sulphur Springs, which began a long relationship with Rounder Records. This arrangement lasted through Blake's 1990 album Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2, a follow-up to an earlier collaboration with Tony Rice. Most of Blake's output in the '90s was released on the equally venerable Shanachie label, including 1999's Be Ready Boys: Appalachia to Abilene. Far Away, Down on a Georgia Farm arrived that same year, followed by Flower from the Fields of Alabama in 2001. Blake teamed up with Ukrainian fiddler/mandolin player Peter Ostroushko for 2002's Meeting on Southern Soil in February of the following year, with the compilation Old Ties arriving later that spring. Norman and Nancy put out Morning Glory Ramblers in 2004 and Back Home in Sulphur Springs in 2006. Norman released Shacktown Road in early 2007, following it with Sleepy Eyed Joe in 2009. That same year saw the release of the Rising Fawn Gathering a reunion of sorts with the Blake's early-'80s group the Rising Fawn String Ensemble that issued three albums for Rounder in the early '80s with James and Rachel Bryan. The new recording juxtaposed the group with Ireland's Boys of the Lough in a collection that showcased Southern folk music as it evolved from Celtic origins.
In 2011, Norman released Green Light on the Southern, a completely solo collection of traditional folk and country standards. He recorded solo again in late 2014. Wood, Wire & Words was his first collection of all-original material since 1974's Fields Of November; it was issued by Plectrafone in January of 2015.
''WOOD, WIRE, & WORDS''
JANUARY 20 2015
49:08
1 Savannah Rag 03:30
2 The Incident At Condra's Switch 03:47
3 The Keeper Of The Government Light On The River 04:59
4 The New Dawning Day 03:23
5 There's A One Way Road To Glory 04:08
6 Farewell Francisco Madero 04:53
7 Blake's Rag 03:41
8 Joseph Thompson Hare On The Natchez Trace 04:06
9 Grady Foresters Store 05:00
10 Chattanooga Rag 02:42
11 Black Bart 04:22
12 Cloverdale Plantation March 04:30
ABOUT
Plectrafone Records, the Old Time Country Division of Western Jubilee Recording Company, Proudly Presents: Norman Blake, Wood, Wire & Words
The first recording of original Blake songs in over 30 years by America’s Old Time Country Musician.
An unvarnished recording written and performed by Norman Blake and guitar. Includes a selection written and performed with Nancy Blake
Two Rags - One March & Eight Old Time Songs
(recently composed)
“Kind of a downer if you listen to the words” - Norman Blake
“I will continue to champion Norman Blake to the end of my days.” - T Bone Burnett
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek, AMG
In 2004, Norman Blake concluded an interview with CMT by saying, "Long ago, I decided I had no future trying to be a guitar gun. I never did like it in the first place...I always liked music more than technique." That's saying a lot for a man who has been playing professionally since the '50s with Mother Maybelle, June Carter Cash, and Anita & Helen Carter, among others, and he's played on iconic records by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and John Hartford, to name just three. On Wood, Wire & Words, his first recording of all-original pieces since 1974's Fields of November, Blake makes plain the statement above. This set is solo save for one track: the fine country-gospel number "There's a One Way Road to Glory," co-written with his wife Nancy Blake, who also sings harmony on it. He plays his signature Martin 000-28B and a 1928 Martin 000-45. Blake's singing voice is slightly weathered but still expressive and soulful in its trademark understatement. His guitar playing, as usual, is unassailable and deliberately slower; it effortlessly fits these well-crafted songs that are rooted deeply in the Southern soil. There are two tracks he cut previously: "Savannah Rag" is played in a fingerpicked style this time around, and "Chattanooga Rag," previously recorded on a six-string banjo, is played with bare fingers. But it's his story songs that resonate most. "Keeper of the Government Light on the River" is about a man who could support a family for $15 a month. "The Incident at Condra's Switch," a tale about a train robbery, is one of several excellent outlaw ballads on the record. It tells of an older, wilder, and more easily understood America. Outlaw ballad "Black Bart" unfolds gradually. The first-person narrative is replete with scenic imagery, personas, archetypes, and an outlook that ironically bridges the nation's from past to present. Another one, "Joseph Thompson Hare on the Old Natchez Trace," is about a gunslinger who traveled from the Northeast to the Deep South only to find himself at the end of a hangman's noose in Baltimore. The set's most compelling cut, however, is one from the time of the Mexican Revolution. "Farewell Francisco Madero," with its lilting mariachi intro, gets transposed it into a more conventional, minor-key folk ballad, but Blake's lyrics are riveting; his delivery is haunted and beguiling, making the distance between place and time melt into the ether: all that's left is now. "Grady Forester's Store and Cotton Gin" is autobiographical. Again, Blake's words erase the intervening years and take the listener directly back to that period and the inside of his experience. For Blake's fans, Wood, Wire & Words sounds like the album he's wanted to make for decades. For those who love American folk music but are unfamiliar with his work, there has never been a better argument for making this a starting place and moving backward.
BIOGRAPHY
by Kurt Wolff, AMG
Although he is proficient with a variety of stringed instruments, Norman Blake is famous for his acoustic guitar skills -- he was one of the major bluegrass guitarists of the '70s. Blake came into view in the late '60s, when he began performing as a sideman with artists as diverse as June Carter and Bob Dylan. During the '70s, he began a solo career that quickly became one of the most popular and musically adventurous within bluegrass. He continued recording and performing -- occasionally with his wife, Nancy -- well into the '90s. Blake began playing music professionally when he was 16 years old, joining the Dixieland Drifters as a mandolinist in 1954; the group debuted on Tennessee Barn Dance, a radio show based in Knoxville. After two years, he left the band and became a member of the Lonesome Travelers, which was led by banjoist Bob Johnson. By the end of the '50s, the Lonesome Travelers had added a second banjoist, Walter Forbes, and had made two records for RCA. Although he joined Hylo Brown & the Timberliners in 1959, Blake continued to perform with Johnson. The following year, he also became a member of June Carter's touring band.
In 1961, Blake was drafted into the Army, where he was stationed in Panama. While he was in the service, he was a radio operator on the Panama Canal and he formed a band called the Kobbe Mountaineers. The band became a popular attraction and was voted the best band in the Caribbean Command. In 1962, Blake recorded 12 Shades of Bluegrass with the Lonesome Travelers while he was on leave. He was discharged from the Army the following year and moved to Nashville. Once he was in Nashville, Blake joined Johnny Cash's band. That same year, he married Nancy Short and settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For the next few years he played with Cash, both on recordings and concerts. In 1969, Bob Dylan hired Blake to play on his country-rock album Nashville Skyline, providing the guitarist a whole new audience. That audience expanded even further when he became Cash's main guitarist on the singer's television show. Cash's program featured a wide array of musical guests, who were often impressed with Blake's talents. Kris Kristofferson asked him to join his touring band and Norman did so, playing both guitar and Dobro; he also played on several of Kristofferson's records. Blake also played on several of Joan Baez's records, including her hit version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
Following his folk and country-rock experiments, Blake returned to his bluegrass roots in 1971 when he joined John Hartford's band, Aeroplane, which also featured fiddler Vassar Clements. Aeroplane fell apart quickly, but Blake stayed with Hartford for a year and a half. In 1972, Norman recorded his first solo album, Back Home in Sulphur Springs, which began a long relationship with Rounder Records. This arrangement lasted through Blake's 1990 album Norman Blake and Tony Rice 2, a follow-up to an earlier collaboration with Tony Rice. Most of Blake's output in the '90s was released on the equally venerable Shanachie label, including 1999's Be Ready Boys: Appalachia to Abilene. Far Away, Down on a Georgia Farm arrived that same year, followed by Flower from the Fields of Alabama in 2001. Blake teamed up with Ukrainian fiddler/mandolin player Peter Ostroushko for 2002's Meeting on Southern Soil in February of the following year, with the compilation Old Ties arriving later that spring. Norman and Nancy put out Morning Glory Ramblers in 2004 and Back Home in Sulphur Springs in 2006. Norman released Shacktown Road in early 2007, following it with Sleepy Eyed Joe in 2009. That same year saw the release of the Rising Fawn Gathering a reunion of sorts with the Blake's early-'80s group the Rising Fawn String Ensemble that issued three albums for Rounder in the early '80s with James and Rachel Bryan. The new recording juxtaposed the group with Ireland's Boys of the Lough in a collection that showcased Southern folk music as it evolved from Celtic origins.
In 2011, Norman released Green Light on the Southern, a completely solo collection of traditional folk and country standards. He recorded solo again in late 2014. Wood, Wire & Words was his first collection of all-original material since 1974's Fields Of November; it was issued by Plectrafone in January of 2015.
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