FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Basia Bulat, Gary Louris, Benmont Tench and more

You could call the structure of this column “songwriters up front, instrumentalists in back,” but in reality the line between them gets blurry. Canadian chanteuse Basia Bulat, Jayhawks mainstay Gary Louris, and rising star Kora Feder all have distinctive voices as both singers and writers, but they’re accomplished players as well. Benmont Tench and Phil Cook are both renowned collaborators who step out in different directions on their new records. And Australia’s Tommy Emmanuel may well be the world’s best living acoustic guitarist. Here’s more about their respective new releases.

Basia Bulat — Basia’s Palace

One of Canada’s most prominent indie-folk artists of the past two decades, Bulat plays unusual instruments both onstage and in the studio. She’s proficient on both guitar and piano, sure, but things often get more intriguing when she pulls out an autoharp or a charango. The surprise on Basia’s Palace is that Bulat wrote much of this record on synth, using MIDI technology. Which does not mean this is her crossover electronica breakout; you can hear the synthesizers, but there’s also still plenty of guitars and keys and percussion, both her own and from several backing musicians. Prominent contributor Venuti String Quartet violinist Drew Jurecka’s string parts often serve as a bridge of sorts between synth atmospherics and more traditional instrumentation. Highlights include “Disco Polo,” a tribute to the Polish music her father adored; “Daylight,” a midtempo number with a gorgeous melody that shines like the sun taking over from the moodier preceding track “The Moon”;  and the closing “Curtain Call,” which starts with simple acoustic guitar strums and gradually builds as Bulat’s gorgeous soprano soars into the stratosphere.

Gary Louris — Dark Country

Hard to fathom that Louris turned 70 this month, but here we are. It’s clearly on his mind, given that the opening track here is titled “Getting Older.” The longtime Jayhawks frontman first made a solo record in 2008, then another a few years ago amid the depths of pandemic isolation. Louris’s sweet, soaring voice is a bit rougher around the edges and more grounded now, but his writing on Dark Country takes that into account: These are mostly quieter numbers, closer to chamber-folk than the glowing roots-pop of the Jayhawks’ heyday. Louris plays most of the instruments here, though the Mastersons’ Eleanor Whitmore adds graceful strings to “By Your Side,” a tender love song for Gary’s wife Steph Louris (who adds backing vocals and tambourine to the album). And the Long Ryders’ Stephen McCarthy provides key pedal steel and guitar parts to “Blow ’Em Away” and “Better To Walk Than To Run,” the latter of which he co-wrote with Louris. The lone cover is the closing track, a splendid rendition of Harry Nilsson’s achingly beautiful “Perfect Day.”

Kora Feder — Some Kind Of Truth

Feder is really good with evocative opening lines. “Time to figure out what the west coast did to me,” she sings to begin “Rambling Man,” in which she comes to terms with her eastern migration. “We lost Prine yesterday and I cried in my drink” is the first line of “In A Young Person’s Body,” written a few weeks into the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020 and arguably the best song anyone has released about those uncertain days. The breakup song “Paragraphs” references Paul Simon right out of the gate — “Fifty ways to leave your lover was ringing in my head” — before revisiting a lost relationship with bittersweet beauty. The music on Some Kind Of Truth centers on Feder’s deft yet delicate acoustic guitar playing and the tender vulnerability of her voice. Other contributors include producer Justin Farren on several instruments, keyboardist Andre Fylling, percussionist Paul Mayer, drummer Brian Rogers and cellist Mai Bloomfield. Some Kind Of Truth builds on Feder’s auspicious 2019 debut In Sevens, a strong sign that she’s in this for the long haul.

Benmont Tench — The Melancholy Season

Most likely you know keyboardist Tench as a co-founder of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, or from his session work with hundreds of artists. The Melancholy Season, released on the late George Harrison’s label Dark Horse (now run by his son Dhani Harrison), follows Tench’s 2014 solo debut You Should Be So Lucky and further confirms that he’s learned a lot about songwriting from all the legends he’s accompanied across the decades. Working in Los Angeles with producer Jonathan Wilson (Margo Price, Billy Strings, Dawes), Tench delivers 13 subtly alluring songs primarily arranged around his versatile piano playing. Though he’s rarely been out front as a singer, Tench makes up for limitations in range and power with a world-weary tone and presence that meshes well with the hard-won wisdom of his words. Highlights include the raw personal politics of “Pledge” (“Jesus ain’t the only one to stand up and speak for the lost and abandoned”) and “I Will Not Follow You Down,” the stark waltz “Under The Starlight,” and the New Orleans-tinged “Wobbles” (an update of an instrumental from his first album, now with lyrics). Wilson adds drums and percussion throughout; other contributors include bassist Sebastian Steinberg, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. But the focus is clearly on Benmont, who’s spent his career just outside the spotlight but steps into it here with natural ease.

Phil Cook — Appalachia Borealis

While Tench is the pianist exploring his songwriter side, Appalachia Borealis finds the versatile Cook — renowned for his wide-ranging work with Bon Iver, Megafaun and others — focusing solely on piano instrumentals. The songs mostly emerged during a year Cook spent in rural North Carolina, where the warbles and chirps of birds became a soundtrack that fascinated and inspired him. Playing along on piano, Cook gradually crafted 10 original tunes that feel as open and expansive as that Piedmont countryside. Returning to his home state of Wisconsin to record the album with his longtime friend Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) producing, Cook kept the proceedings as spare as possible, supplementing his piano parts only with occasional bird sounds he’d recorded on his phone. An intriguing detour at the album’s midpoint is its lone cover, a rendition of Gillian Welch’s “I Made A Lover’s Prayer” that takes the song to new places with Cook’s improvisational flights on the keys. It’s probably obligatory to mention the late George Winston; no idea if Cook is a fan, but Winston’s piano meditations on landscapes and seasons are perhaps the most prominent touchstone for this brief (31 minutes) yet enchanting record.

Tommy Emmanuel — Live At Sydney Opera House

For Cook, an instrumental approach may be a new adventure, but that’s the bread-and-butter for Australia’s acoustic-guitar wunderkind Emmanuel, who’s been wowing audiences with his pyrotechnic playing since his preteen years. What sets him apart from many guitar gods is that while most of his songs don’t have lyrics, his fingerpicking is refreshingly lyrical. You could say his solo-acoustic arrangements are spare and economical, except that Emmanuel often sounds like he’s playing three guitars at once. The 15 tracks on this live recording include several medleys, most notably a Beatles run that includes snippets of “She’s A Woman,” “Please Please Me,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Day Tripper” and “Lady Madonna.” (He follows that with the 1960s instrumental hit “Classical Gas” for good measure.) Emmanuel tours the world relentlessly, so there’s something special about this homecoming set culled from two May 2023 shows at the iconic Sydney Opera House. He acknowledges this at the end of “The Jolly Swagman”: “We’re at the most incredible venue on the planet, and we get to make music here. Can you believe that?”