Peter Rowan – You Were There For Me

“Mercurial” is the word Robert K. Oermann’s liner notes use to describe Peter Rowan, and it’s a well-chosen one. Like Bill Monroe, in whose band Rowan served some 40 years ago, Rowan is both powerful and idiosyncratic; he has built a career around a unique combination of deep roots and sometimes fanciful eclecticism.

Tony Rice’s approach is more studied and deliberate, yet he too has ranged widely, from traditional bluegrass through (the unfortunately named) “spacegrass” and “new acoustic” music, with a crowd of acolytes and imitators trailing behind. Though Rice and Rowan have collaborated onstage and occasionally in the studio before, You Were There For Me is their first full-length project together, and it finds them reinforcing each other’s strengths.

Rowan wrote virtually all of the songs. They range from the title track’s straightforward declaration through the story of “Ahmed The Beggar Boy”, an effort to identify with an Iraqi child who succeeds by sheer force of will. The pronounced Latin flavor of “Come Back To Old Santa Fe” finds echoes throughout the CD, but only a bit more so than hints of jazz, blues and even a bit of bluegrass.

Backing comes mostly from Bryn Bright (double bass) and Billy Bright (mandolin, mandola), who have accompanied both artists together and individually. They’re unfailingly sympathetic and restrained, leaving the spotlight to shine right where it belongs: on the two principals.