Charlie Haden Family & Friends — Rambling Boy (2008) |
Charlie Haden Family & Friends — Rambling Boy (2008)
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Album release: 2008
Record Label: EmArcy
Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, Country
Duration: 45:43
Tracks:
01. Single Girl, Married Girl 2:38
02. Rambling Boy 2:58
03. 20/20 Vision 4:16
04. Wildwood Flower 3:35
05. Spiritual 6:14
06. Oh, Take Me Back 2:19
07. You Win Again 3:12
08. The Fields Of A thenry 7:29
09. Ocean Of Diamonds 3:38
10. He’s Gone Away 4:32
11. A Voice From On High 4:16
12. Down By The Salley Gardens 4:30
13. Road Of Broken Hearts 2:29
14. Is This America ? (Katrina 2005) 3:40
15. Tramp On The Street 4:57
16. Old Joe Clark 4:06
17. Seven Year Blues 2:41
18. Old Haden Family Show 1:43
19. Oh Shenandoah 3:49
Awards:
Billboard Albums
¬•¬ 2008 Family & Friends — Rambling Boy The Billboard 200 ≠100
¬•¬ 2008 Family & Friends — Rambling Boy Top Internet Albums ≠100 Credits:
¬•¬ Mark Aarvold Audio Engineer
¬•¬ Paul Altomari A&R
¬•¬ Tom Arndt Package Coordinator
¬•¬ Tom Baker Mastering
¬•¬ Russ Barenberg Guitar, Main Personnel, Mandolin
¬•¬ Craig Bishop Executive Manager, Photography
¬•¬ Jack Black Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Rich Breen Mixing
¬•¬ Sam Bush Main Personnel, Mandolin, Soloist
¬•¬ Ruth Cameron Audio Prod., Feat. Artist, Main Personnel, Producer, Vocals
¬•¬ Rosanne Cash Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Elvis Costello Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Leif Covington Package Coordinator
¬•¬ Cowboy Charlie Featured Artist
¬•¬ Rick DePofi Audio Engineer, Engineer
¬•¬ Jerry Douglas Dobro, Main Personnel, Soloist
¬•¬ Stuart Duncan Fiddle, Main Personnel, Soloist
¬•¬ Mark Fain Audio Production, Producer
¬•¬ Béla Fleck Banjo, Main Personnel
¬•¬ Vince Gill Feat. Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Fanny Gotschall Creative Director
¬•¬ Buddy Greene Harmonica, Soloist
¬•¬ Lee Groitsch Audio Engineer
¬•¬ Carl Haden Jr. Guitar, Main Personnel
¬•¬ Charlie Haden Arranger, Audio Production, Bass, Bass Instrument, Liner Notes, Producer, Soloist, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
¬•¬ Josh Haden Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Mary Elizabeth Haden Main Personnel, Mandolin
¬•¬ Petra Haden Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
¬•¬ Rachel Haden Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
¬•¬ Tanya Haden Cello, Featured Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals, Vocground)
¬•¬ Morgan Hobbs Assistant Engineer
¬•¬ Bruce Hornsby Arranger, Feat. Artist, Main Personnel, Piano, Soloist, Vocals
¬•¬ John Leventhal Guitar, Main Personnel
¬•¬ Jim McGuire Photography, Portraits
¬•¬ Latifa Metheny Photography
¬•¬ Pat Metheny Arranger, Audio Prod. Feat. Artist, Guitar, Producer, Soloist
¬•¬ Steve Rodby Audio Production
¬•¬ Garrett Shelton Project Manager
¬•¬ Ricky Skaggs Featured Artist, Fretless Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
¬•¬ Bryan Stuart Guitar, Main Personnel
¬•¬ Bryan Stuart Guitar
¬•¬ Bryan Sutton Guitar, Main Personnel, Soloist
¬•¬ Dan Tyminski Feat. Artist, Main Personnel, Mandolin, Vocals, Voc.ground
¬•¬ Bil VornDick Audio Engineer, Engineer
¬•¬ Buck White Main Personnel, Piano
¬•¬ Cheryl White Main Personnel, Vocals
¬•¬ Sharon White Main Personnel, Vocals
Review
•ο→ Charlie Haden might possess the warmest bass tone in jazz, one that has made its presence felt on countless recordings, including several jazz landmarks. He’s probably best known for his work with the visionary Ornette Coleman, but he’s also led a variety of groups, including the Liberation Music Orchestra, Old and New Dreams, and Quartet West. Haden, who hails from Iowa, began his musical career as a child singing with his family’s country and folk act. His playing has retained a folk–like quality, and on Rambling Boy he returns to his roots. This expansive disc opens with Haden’s three daughters — Petra, Tanya, and Rachel — nicely harmonizing on the Carter Family classic, “Single Girl, Married Girl,” as Charlie plucks away on bass. In addition to Haden’s family, the album features country singers Vince Gill and Roseanne Cash, as well as bluegrass artists such as vocalist Ricky Skaggs, mandolin player Sam Bush, and dobro master Jerry Douglas. (Elvis Costello and Pat Metheny also make appearances.) Two of the last tracks make a good pair: an excerpt from an old radio show featuring a two-year–old Charlie yodeling, followed by the present–day Haden intoning “Oh Shenandoah.”
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek; Score: ***½
¬•¬ Saying that Charlie Haden’s Rambling Boy is a personal album is an understatement. In essence, this album is a tribute to his mother and father whose own vocal group — made up of Haden and his siblings — performed on radio programs in both Shenandoah, IA and Springfield, MO, where they hosted the live variety show Korn’s–A–Krackin (sic), which was modeled on the Grand Ole Opry. Haden began his musical career at the age of two, singing live on the radio; he was fortunate enough to have Mother Maybelle Carter play in his living room, and to have met the rest of the Carters, Porter Wagoner, Chet Atkins, and numerous others on their way through town to play the show.
¬•¬ This 19–song set features all the members of his immediate family — daughters Petra, Rachel, and Tanya, as well as son Josh. The players and vocalists are numerous but they include guitarist Pat Metheny, Rosanne Cash, Vince Gill, Bruce Hornsby, Stuart Duncan, Jerry Douglas, the Whites, Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Elvis Costello, and Russ Barenberg, among others. Despite the wide range of players here, this album can only be called Americana in the strictest sense of the term as its selections are new readings of mostly traditional folk and country songs. There are numerous connections interwoven here too: highlights include Cash’s moving and plaintive reading of “Wildwood Flower,” a song that has roots in her own family — via Mother Maybelle — and Haden’s, as well, as his mother had it in her repertoire. Metheny’s and John Leventhal’s guitars are devastatingly beautiful here. Another stellar moment is Josh’s reading of his own song “Spiritual.” Johnny Cash previously recorded it, as did Charlie and Metheny on the Grammy–winning Beyond the Missouri Sky. Josh’s voice has none of the earth–shaking, end–of–the–world authority of Cash’s, but it doesn’t need to. In his voice the song is a prayer that exposes the most vulnerable of emotions: loneliness, fear, and remorse. When underscored by Douglas’ dobro, Duncan’s fiddle, and Barenberg's poignant guitar, it is a devastatingly powerful — if gentle — tune. Petra’s version of “The Fields of Athenry,” with the dual guitars of Metheny and Barenberg, and Hornsby’s piano, is a real showstopper as well, but for different reasons. The song unfolds in a plaintive vocal as a story from time immemorial. Yet the instrumental accompaniment (which also includes a smoking dobro solo by Douglas) transforms it into something that extends far into the future. The Louvin Brothers’ “Seven Year Blues” is sung in innovative three–part harmony by the Haden girls (triplets), and Rachel’s read of “Tramp on the Street” could have been written for her by Grady and Hazel M. Cole; it possesses all the weariness and conviction of a Clinch Mountain church song. Jack Black (he’s married to Tanya) does a humorous yet very effective take on the traditional “Old Joe Clark” yet it is utterly convincing. Metheny’s instrumental “Is This America (Katrina 2005),” reminds us why he’s such an iconic musician — it’s not for his flash, which he possesses in abundance, but his subtlety and melodic elegance. Costello, with his jazzy phrasing, does a very modern take on Hank Williams’ “You Win Again,” bringing it into the present. Haden sings “Oh Shenandoah,” in his reedy, wispy, 71–year–old voice and bass as Metheny, Duncan, Douglas, and Barenberg accompany him; he nearly whispers this beautifully idiosyncratic set to a close, leaving the intertwined circles of bloodlines and musical heritage unbroken.
Website: http://www.hadenfamilyandfriends.com/
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Charlie Haden Family & Friends — Rambling Boy (2008) |