Tony Furtado

Tony Furtado - Cider House Sessions - Live at Reverend Nat's (2017) {Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 603 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 129 Mb
Full Artwork -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2017 Tony Furtado / bandcamp.com (all rights reserved)
Americana / Folk / Bluegrass / Singer/Songwriter / Progressive Bluegrass

An eclectic and rootsy set of music by Tony Furtado with Matt Flinner, Rob Burger and Luke Price, this beautifully recorded live album was culled from a series of performances at a cider brewery that can be called vibrant, explosive, introspective & alive.

It always seems to create a certain amount of confusion when a multi-talented artist like Tony Furtado grows in a new direction. Once upon a time, he recorded instrumental banjo music for labels like Rounder, adventurous acoustic music for fans of David Grisman, Tony Rice, and Béla Fleck. A few years later, however, finds Furtado – artistically speaking – all over the map. Now, he also plays guitar (acoustic and electric), sings, writes, and performs in multiple styles. On 2005's Bare Bones, Furtado takes a step back from the eclectic hodgepodge of These Chains for a low-key concert album. True to the title, he backs his own vocals with acoustic and electric guitar and banjo over 11 tracks, producing a quiet and intimate album that reminds one a bit of Leo Kottke's later material.

Slide guitar and banjo whiz Tony Furtado's fourth album in four years (for his fourth label) is a perfect encapsulation of how his sound has grown. Encompassing folk, blues, funk, and jazz, the disc kicks off with a seven-minute jam on "False Hearted Lover" featuring Paul McCandless on reeds (a recent addition to the American Gypsies). The ex-Oregon member adds unique East Indian snake-charmer scales as the group churns up a frothy backing. It, like most of these live performances of tunes taken predominantly from Furtado's past two releases, leaves the studio versions in the dust. Furtado's dusky vocals resonate with a successful combination of pathos and intensity, neither detracting from, nor overwhelming the crack playing at this album's heart.

American Gypsy introduces itself with about 15 seconds of rumbling instrumental noise, the equivalent of an outsider orchestra tuning, before the opening blues figure of "Oh Berta, Berta" falls down from Tony Furtado's guitar. In those early moments, a new direction is named for Furtado, a bluegrass virtuoso and genre-bending master whose 1997 release, Roll My Blues Away, introduced his perfection of the slide guitar and move away from traditional roots-style composition.

Just because nothing on banjo/guitar master Tony Furtado's 14th album couldn't have been included on his last half dozen doesn't make it any less enjoyable or edgy. Deep Water is another predominantly low-key yet never easygoing set of ballads and midtempo folk-rockers, with an emphasis on folk. The tracks are a little shorter and tighter this time, yet nonetheless sizzle like a dry fuse threatening to detonate its bomb. Most never do – however, the anticipation creates tension that fuels this darkly tuneful music. Vocals aren't Furtado's strong suit, yet he sounds loose and comfortable, applying his dusky, five-o'clock-shadow voice to songs that make the most of his less-is-more singing and deceptively intricate guitar and banjo work.

Blue Coast Collection 4 is made up of songs you love sung with an acoustic twist by artists you love. "I'm On Fire" sung by Meghan Andrews will take your breath away. Enjoy acoustic covers from Tom Petty to Joni Mitchell performed live in the studio with all the intimacy intact. All songs were recorded direct to DSD.

Subtitled "An introduction to Jeff Lang," Prepare Me Well compiles tracks from five of the Australian roots guitarist's discs released over a ten year time span starting in 1994, many of which have not been available in the States. It is meant as a way of bringing Lang's name into visibility, and as such is a useful collection. But, since the press notes explain that Lang produced ten live and studio albums during this period, one wonders what happened to material from the other five. Additionally, selections from Native Creek Dog, which was named Best Australian Blues Album in 1996, are strangely M.I.A. Regardless, what is here is impressive…