Phil Leadbetter – Slide Effects
Phil Leadbetter and Darrell Webb are both members of Wildfire, a polished bluegrass quintet with two albums already out and a third on the way. Each released an earlier solo effort some years ago; their new discs not only offer interesting contrasts between their individual inclinations, but also shed some insight into how those inclinations reflect and are reflected in their band’s music.
Wildfire emerged from an edition of J.D. Crowe’s New South, and Webb’s Behind The Scenes bears the mark of that lineage. Though an assortment of other players and singers make appearances, current and former New South members (including Leadbetter) play the key roles, helping out with guitar, bass and vocals. (Ron Stewart contributes all three of those, plus fiddle and banjo, at one point or another, as well as producing and engineering the disc.)
The result is a straightforward bluegrass album that surrounds Webb’s high, edgy voice and crisp mandolin playing with an especially simpatico framework. Though he’s a fine player, the album emphasizes vocals, eschewing instrumentals altogether and enlisting Dolly Parton to sing lead on her ballad, “Cold”.
That puts the spotlight on the songs, and if there’s a weakness to Behind The Scenes, it’s the material. There are some solid covers — a jewel-like reading of Eric Andersen’s “Close The Door Lightly” — and some engaging new songs, including Jeff Barbra and John Pennell’s “Thank You Father For My Dad”, but others suffer from shortcomings in craft, all the more noticeable amid the high quality of the album in every other respect.
Slide Effects, on the other hand, is predominantly instrumental. The core band, which includes co-producer Scott Vestal on banjo, follows Leadbetter through uptempo romps and contemplative ballads with equal facility, supplying a nifty variety of approaches that complement the resonator guitarist’s burnished tone and distinctive twists of phrasing skillfully and, on occasion, with a restrained but noticeable sense of humor.
Leadbetter turns to a fine assortment of guests for the vocal selections, too, including Marty Raybon (who, with Webb and Wildfire guitarist Robert Hale providing harmonies, nails the opening “California Cottonfields”) and Alice Vestal, who takes ownership of Sting’s “Fields Of Gold”. Add the driving bluegrass of “There’s More Pretty Girls Than One” and the country soul of Steve Wariner’s “Tattoos Of Life”, and the broader stylistic range of Slide Effects becomes unmistakable.