Greg Brown – In The Hills Of California
Archive
Posted On November 1, 2004
Greg Brown has the rare gift of creating songs that unwind with the roundabout informality of a thoughtful yet unstructured conversation. Regardless of how much work may or may not have gone into a particular tune’s genesis, the resulting piece feels of-the-moment, complete with interjections and sparky, synaptic sidebars.
Over the course of nearly 25 years, Brown has honed and expanded his craft while maintaining a consistency of tone and personality that gives longtime listeners a palpable (if illusory) sense of “knowing” the artist. His studio recordings, particularly those made with guitarist/co-producer Bo Ramsey, have been beautifully mounted presentations of his work — but there is a playful, self-deprecating aspect of the man that is accented most effectively in live performance.
In The Hills Of California is a two-disc live set culled from Brown’s appearances at the annual Kate Wolf Music Festival in Northern California from 1997 through 2003 (excepting 2001). Despite its patchwork assembly, the collection has the feel of one continuous concert, perhaps in part because the singer’s intimate, glass-rattling baritone and idiosyncratic acoustic guitar are accompanied on all but one track by Nina Gerber’s fluent, inventive electric guitar. Folk luminaries Shawn Colvin, Dave Moore, Garnet Rogers, Karen Savoca, Pete Heitzman and Bill Griffin also chip in with notable contributions.
Of the 32 cuts included here, eight are previously unreleased by Brown. He introduces his own compositions “Kate’s Guitar”, “I Want My Country Back”, “Slow Food” and “The Way My Baby Calls My Name”, and presents sterling covers of Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got A Hold On Me”, the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”, Robert Johnson’s “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” and the traditional “I Shall Not Be Moved”.
Brown has a number of front-to-back terrific discs to his credit, but for the uninitiated, perhaps none would provide a better introduction to the singer-songwriter’s many facets than this casual, intimate confab.
