Another Day Another Time – Celebrating The Music Of Inside Llewyn Davis

I am starting to become super producer T Bone Burnett’s biggest fan.

The last three new albums that I have come across – The Phosphorescent Blues by Punch Brothers, Rhiannon Gidden’s Tomorrow Is My Turn and the subject release of this article – have all been produced (in part or in full) by Burnett.  All three albums are out on Nonesuch Records and are all excellent.

Another Day Another Time: Celebrating The Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis” is a live recording from a one-night-only concert at Town Hall in New York in September 2013.  The two-disc set was produced by Burnett and Joel & Ethan Coen (writer/director/producers of the movie) and features live performances by icons and the cream of rising stars of the folk and Americana scene.

The evening was filmed for a documentary that was broadcast by Showtime, and now Nonesuch has released a live recording of the concert on CD.  And what a live event it must have been – Punch Brothers, The Avett Brothers, Joan Baez, Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Lake Street Dive, Colin Meloy (The Decemberists), The Milk Carton Kids, Keb Mo, Marcus Mumford, Conor Oberst, Dave Rawlings Machine, Gillian Welch, Willie Watson (ex-Old Crow Medicine Show), Jack White and others join forces with some of the cast of the movie – Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Adam Driver.  Mix this hot-shot group with some of the most evocative traditional songs, material from Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, A. P. Carter, Tom Paxton, Tom T. Hall and Ian Tyson and you have a treasure trove of the best roots music on offer today.

Some personal highlights for me here are “Tumbling Tumbleweed” by Punch Brothers, Gillian Welch’s beautiful renditions of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?” and “The Way It Goes”, “New York” (Milk Carton Kids), Oberst’s “Man Named Truth”, “Blues Run The Game” (Meloy), The Avett Brothers’ interesting take on “That’s How I Got To Memphis” and Giddons’s breathtaking “’S iomadh rud tha dhìth orm / Ciamar a nì mi ’n dannsa dìreach”.

It is indeed a celebration and the recording quality is perfect.  If you are into folk, new folk, Americana and/or simply the best in the current legion of singer-songwriters, you should add this wonderful release to your collection.  It contains the very essence of the best of traditional music while showcasing the marvellous talent of a group of new-comers.

A full track list for the two-disc recording follows.

SET ONE

1. Tumbling Tumbleweed
(Bob Nolan)
Punch Brothers

2. Rye Whiskey
(Chris Thile/Noam Pikelny/Gabe Witcher/Chris Eldridge/Paul Kowert)
Punch Brothers

3. Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
(A.P. Carter)
Gillian Welch

4. The Way It Goes
(David Rawlings/Gillian Welch)
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

5. The Midnight Special
(Traditional, Arr. David Rawlings/Willie Watson)
Willie Watson

6. I Hear Them All | This Land Is Your Land
(David Rawlings/Ketch Secor | Woody Guthrie)
Dave Rawlings Machine

7. New York
(Kenneth Pattengale/Joseph Ryan)
The Milk Carton Kids

8. Tomorrow Will Be Kinder
(Laura Rogers/Lydia Rogers)
Secret Sisters

9. You Go Down Smooth
(Michael Olson)
Lake Street Dive

10. Please Mr. Kennedy
(Ed Rush/George Cromarty/T Bone Burnett/Justin Timberlake/Ethan Coen/Joel Coen)
Elvis Costello, Oscar Isaac & Adam Driver

11. Four Strong Winds
(Ian Tyson)
Conor Oberst

12. Man Named Truth
(Conor Oberst)
Conor Oberst

13. Blues Run the Game
(Jackson C. Frank)
Colin Meloy

14. Joe Hill
(Alfred Hayes/Earl Robinson)
Joan Baez, Colin Meloy & Gillian Welch

15. All My Mistakes
(Scott Avett/Timothy Avett/Robert Crawford)
The Avett Brothers

16. That’s How I Got to Memphis
(Tom T. Hall)
The Avett Brothers

17. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
(Scott Avett/Timothy Avett/Robert Crawford)
The Avett Brothers

SET TWO

1. Mama’s Angel Child
(Traditional)
Jack White

2. Did You Hear John Hurt?
(Tom Paxton)
Jack White

3. We’re Going to Be Friends
(Jack White)
Jack White

4. Waterboy
(Traditional, Arr. Rhiannon Giddens)
Rhiannon Giddens

5. ’S iomadh rud tha dhìth orm / Ciamar a nì mi ’n dannsa dìreach
(Traditional, Arr. Rhiannon Giddens/Leyla McCalla)
Rhiannon Giddens

6. Hang Me, Oh Hang Me
(Traditional, Arr. T Bone Burnett/Oscar Isaac)
Oscar Isaac

7. Green, Green Rocky Road
(Len Chandler/Robert Kaufman)
Oscar Isaac

8. Tomorrow Is a Long Time
(Bob Dylan)
Keb’ Mo’

9. Rock Salt and Nails
(Bruce Phillips)
Bob Neuwirth

10. The Auld Triangle
(Brendan Behan)
Chris Thile, Chris Eldridge, Paul Kowert, Marcus Mumford, Noam Pikelny & Gabe Witcher

11. Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby
(Gillian Welch/Alan Lomax/T Bone Burnett)
Gillian Welch, Rhiannon Giddens & Carey Mulligan

12. Which Side Are You On?
(Florence Reece)
Elvis Costello & Joan Baez

13. House of the Rising Sun
(Traditional, Arr. Joan Baez)
Joan Baez

14. Give Me Cornbread When I’m Hungry
(Traditional, Arr. Dirk Powell)
Marcus Mumford & Joan Baez

15. I Was Young When I Left Home
(Bob Dylan)
Marcus Mumford

16. Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song)
(Traditional, Arr. T Bone Burnett)
Oscar Isaac & Marcus Mumford

17. Farewell
(Bob Dylan)
Marcus Mumford & Punch Brothers

Rob Dickens

robdickens101.com