Goodnight Texas – Uncle John Farquhar
Rick J Bowen
Posted On December 4, 2014
The San Francisco-based quartet Goodnight Texas have taken the idea of “retro music” a quantum leap further. Their sophomore album Uncle John Farquhar, released in August of 2014, is set up as a scrapbook of tales from the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.
The album’s 13 songs are a mixture of shout and stomp neo-folk, banjo-pickin’ bluegrass, and lonesome Western country, inspired by stories and letters uncovered from digging through books and archives. Two of the artifacts collected from Patrick Wolf’s great, great grandfather John Farquhar, for whom the album was named, include a sermon Farquhar delivered on the passing of Abraham Lincoln and several letters he wrote home after visiting a hospital just outside of Gettysburg, VA.
The sund of the album is lush and expansive, featuring all acoustic instruments and tight vocal harmonies. It was recorded with an up-close-and-personal contemporary vibe. The pop sensibility of lead single “Button You Collar,” with its sing-along hook and clap-your-hands chorus, makes you forget it was written as an homage to the world of 150 years ago. The hoedown continues for the jaunty “A Bank Robbers Nursery Rhyme,” with Patrick Wolf’s nimble banjo doubling the vocal line. That strong use of banjo as lead instrument continues during the lonely ballad “I Just Can’t Stop leaving Town,” where it’s mixed with a lovely counterpoint of pedal steel to create a sweeping aesthetic. The deep blues of “Cold Riders” sends a chill up your spine with every hit of the deep kick drum.
Two tracks dig deep in to the sorrow of the era: the hymn to the fallen called “Many Miles from Blacksburg,” and “Dearest Sarah,” based on an actual Civil War letter written from husband to wife in 1861. The latter is respectfully recited with waltzing and close harmonies. Sullivan Ballou’s letter is read in the Ken Burns film Civil War, which inspired Avi Vincour to set it to music. It certainly would make a fine addition to that film’s soundtrack.
To lift the mood, the band delivers the old-time holler “Hello Nebraska,” which reflects the optimism of America’s Western expansion in the last half of the 1800s, and possibly gives us a glimpse of the next musical research project we can expect from Goodnight Texas.
Goodnight Texas – Uncle John Farquhar (Tallest Man)
http://www.hiwearegoodnighttexashowareyou.com/
