Dave and Gillian Add to Legend

Where to start?

Let me see.

I hadn’t seen darling folk/traditional/Americana duo Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings live before last month.

In Nashville during the Americana Music Festival 2016, I witnessed them perform twice, as well as a live radio interview^ in between those performances, all in the space of four days.  So I feel that I’ve caught up a little and can add some performance perspective to my already substantial recorded output exposure.

Dave Rawlings has always been there on Gillian Welch records, that majestic, sinuous and unique guitar style becoming an essential ingredient into a string of wonderful and landmark Welch albums.  While Welch’s output has slowed a little in recent years (one record since 2003), Dave Rawlings Machine has emerged as if to fill in some of the dead air.  The Machine’s A Friend Of A Friend was released to much acclaim in 2009 and now along comes Nashville Obsolete, out this September (via Acony Records\Redeye Worldwide).  Released, in fact, during Americanafest with a song from the new album (“Short Haired Woman Blues”) debuting at the Americana Honor and Awards ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium, where the couple that night received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.

Nashville Obsolete marks the seventh studio album on which Welch and Rawlings have collaborated together in their acclaimed two-decade-long creative partnership.  Recorded on analog tape at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, TN,  the album features seven original compositions written by Welch and Rawlings.  The new album was produced by Rawlings, and also features some highly-credentialed supporting players – Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers) on bass, Willie Watson on vocals and guitar and guest appearances from Brittany Haas (fiddle) and Jordan Tice (mandolin).

Nashville Obsolete has a different feel than the previous Machine album.  It’s fuller, more epic in scale.  Only seven tracks, but five of them are over five minutes long.  Rawling’s individualistic guitar work is still a feature but not quite so dominant due to the presence of strings, mandolin and seemingly longer stories to convey.  There’s also more maturity in Rawlings’ vocals.

The opening track “The Weekend” is a case in point, with its full set of strings, vivid characters and catchy, yearning harmonies on offer.  The aforementioned “Short Haired Woman Blues” is a masterwork – starting off with a riff straight out of a classic Animals’ song or a haunting Morricone melody, a slow and passionate story unfolds, with plenty of tempo changes to keep it fascinating.  The Rawlings guitar solo here is transcendent, like an acoustic version of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer” and his playing escalates, along with the swell of the string orchestra.  The musical vibe in “The Trip” could pass for a track off Bob Dylan’s “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid” and, with the song clocking in at just under eleven minutes, you can immerse yourself in its elegant beauty unconditionally.

“Bodysnatchers” is creepy, evil tales of The Mississippi River and the goings-on in the river towns, with Rawlings’ voice showing plenty of emotion and range.  “The Last Pharaoh” and “Candy” are the most traditional-sounding songs on the collection, with Rawlings’ guitar and the duo’s vocals a delight.  “Pilgrim (You Can’t Go Home)” is another lengthy and interesting song.

In the past, Welch and Rawlings have managed to achieve a sustained level of excellence (a la Lucinda Williams) that not that many artists can match.  Nashville Obsolete not only maintains that artistic vision, it enables their standing in the musical community to go up a notch.

1. The Weekend

2. Short Haired Woman Blues

3. The Trip

4. Bodysnatchers

5. The Last Pharaoh

6. Candy

7. Pilgrim (You Can’t Go Home)

Listening Through The Lens