Give me a lil wiggle room, ok? I don’t listen to bluegrass. Like, ever at all. The closest I get is when I put on the ol Chester and Lester album and then subsequently want to quit playing guitar while I’m still way, way behind.
The reason for this confession is because I feel it necessary to admit that I am no expert when it comes to bluegrass. I mean, I am no expert on anything, period. But there are definitely genres that I feel much more comfortable considering in a public forum. And bluegrass seems to be one of those genres where people know their shit very, very well. It is, after all, steeped in tradition so rich that I am not sure that someone like me, new to bluegrass, can fully appreciate how good is good when someone else raves about a bluegrass artist. All of this to say that when I listen to Melody Walker and Jacob Groopman’s album “We Made It Home,” I do so with a pure ear; I am not sure what I should be listening for, which in my case is very refreshing.
I knew Melody, vaguely, when we were attending Humboldt State University as music majors. She was just starting as I was just wrapping up but at a small school circles often run wide. I remember that she was a hellova singer who collaborated with some of my friends. Fast forward 10 years and she’s an inimitably independent one-woman army of self-management, self-promotion, and self-confidence. And the thing of it is, as far as I can tell, girl’s got the goods to back it up.
We Made It Home is a live record in the true sense of the word; the thing is ALIVE. Every track jumps with sparkle and sass, even the slow ones, which is what I love about this record. This record is in no way predictable with the possible exception being that Melody likes a big strum through a tastefully placed minor chord. (But then, who doesn’t?) From the subject matter of the songs to the sweeping vocalize on the title track, this album tugs at a sense of quirk, of tongue-in-cheek, of silliness, all the while remaining rooted in, what I can only imagine is, tradition.
Melody still is a hellova singer and she’s found a perfect counterpart in Groopman. As instrumentalists, they play with exceptional clarity and precision, and Jacob’s deftness as a picker is well-supported by Melody’s rock-solid rhythms and bass lines. While Groopman’s voice is the unvarnished of the two, it is both sincere and well-suited to the material. On the other hand, I get the distinct sense that Melody can sing whatever the hell she wants to, however the hell she wants to, but that she has pared her voice neatly into this particular box which works well. And though it is rare that her thick, warm alto gives way to her shimmering falsetto, when it does happen, it comes as sweet release.
Kim Ruehl recently gave this album a somewhat tepid review which Melody herself touted as a fair consideration. Kim was particularly critical of the duo’s take on Paul Simon’s Graceland. She said that the album and song Graceland was “a cultural exchange between Simon’s New York and Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s folky South Africa. Walker and Groopman’s version kind of misses the point.” This is interesting only in so much as Walker’s previous tenure was with a world a cappella group called Akabella and Melody has travelled widely to parts of Brazil and India to study folk music. This history makes me think that their musical choices weren’t without informed debate. While the album’s take on Graceland is not my favorite version of their cover, comparing Walker and Groopman’s version with Simon’s original takes some of the joy out of listening to this version. I feel that a song as strong as Graceland can withstand a good rendering or two and that Groopman and Walker offer up a fine, albeit, straighter version of this brilliant song.
This album is immaculate in both it’s pickin and production (thanks in no small part I’m sure, to producer Laurie Lewis.) We Made It Home is fun, it’s flashy and Melody and Jacob make a formidable duo. While I would take an aching blues solo over just about anything else in the world, this album is a joy.
Aside from their duo project, Walker and Groopman are also part of the bluegrass band Front Country that seems to be taking the country by storm these days and Walker also fronts a solo project Melody Walker and No Lonesome.
Walker and Groopman are on tour now. Catch em while you can.
Here’s Melody and Jacob’s version of Graceland that I love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBAYgvDPovY
(Photos from Melody’s website.)
