PETUNIA – INSIDE OF YOU
2014 - Tramline
I’ve been raving, at least to anyone who will listen, about Petunia’s previous album ‘Petunia and the Vipers,’ ever since first hearing it about two years ago. Since then I’ve seen him perform with the Vipers what was then my gig of the year, played the c.d almost to death and made it my ‘Album of the year’ in 2012. And yet, there was always that nagging question; how could he possibly follow that album with something at least approaching equality. It seemed unlikely this could be achieved so I was then concerned about what I could say about the recording in any review, having raved over its predecessor. I shouldn’t have worried!
For me this new recording is the equal of that incredible 2012 album. It is different but his music will always evolve and change from album to album. He is a musician who seems driven to always stretch himself, to such a degree that he probably can’t control that inner passion that pushes him ever onwards. Much of that drive comes from his unique vocal style which ensures there is always experimentation although not in a ‘prog rock’ search for new sounds either! He is firmly rooted in country music but is happy to play around and develop various other styles within roots music, something very few if any others could even consider doing to the degree that Petunia achieves. It is as if he is searching for his vocal and musical limits but is faced with confusion simply because in all the years he has been recording and touring he is no nearer finding those limits, something all roots music fans should be eternally grateful for.
His influences come from myriad, ever evolving strands of ‘roots music’ that have been passed down through many generations of ‘hillbillies,’ blues musicians and even to a small degree jazz; in a nutshell, the whole gamut of ‘American music.’ That is not to say he can’t do ‘traditional country music;’ he is at the top of the game with his pure country ballads but is just as likely to then perform something by Hoagy Carmichael, before going off into rockabilly, blues and myriad other evolutionary offshoots, some of them so blended as to be stylistically unrecognisable, although ultimately recognizably Petunia!
As with his previous, career defining release, Petunia’s country roots always shine through but it is a real stretch to call this recording a ‘country album.’ The songs seem to meander all over the place but that is as much due to his extraordinary vocal dexterity as it is to the songs and arrangements. It is safe to say that generically and vocally there is no other musician alive today who can be compared to this man of such extraordinary talents. Such is his vocal range and mastery that I’ve often had the impression he has to restrain himself and soften the power at his disposal. When I saw him live with the Vipers a couple of years ago I was incredibly impressed by the way he works his voice as if it is several disparate instruments that come together to form a unique sound. Despite the fact that this is not overtly ‘hillbilly music’ the impression is that he is driven by those ghosts of old to ensure his music, whilst modern, has some of that spooky otherworldliness of the long gone old timers such as Dock Boggs early recordings which had a recognisably otherworldly presence to them. The music is on a totally different level to anything that came before or is currently around and in many ways extends the boundaries of country music by picking up the threads from where everyone else stops, thinking they’ve taken it as far as it can go, when in actual fact they’ve only taken it to where Petunia starts!
The Vipers make up part of the talented musical assemblage on this album that includes assistance from a number of other musicians who add their skills to help Petunia towards fulfilling his musical vision, although if you asked him he would probably say, despite the skills on offer, he is no nearer to attaining that vision, unless of course that vision extends beyond known genres into a sub genre called ‘diversity,’in which case he could be there! All songs were written by Petunia (R. Fortugno) and the album was co produced by him and Phil Sgriccia, with the recording carried out at Riverbank Mobile Sound in Vancouver, Canada.
Where do we start with pen pictures of some of the songs? I think it has to be totally at random, simply because the styles and variations are so diverse that to describe the album as a whole would entail writing about every song. I’ve ‘waffled’ enough about the man so here goes with some of his songs! Forgotten Melody includes a nice chunky bass and percussion on a slowish song on which his vocals are as fascinating as ever, from aggressive otherworldliness to deep and warm, with an unusual arrangement that is pretty much par for the course. It has a nice dominant acoustic guitar sound, supplemented by a lovely trumpet break and an eerie repetitious fiddle that gradually builds tension as do Petunia’s vocals! Bicycle Song is propelled by an unusual sound, or at least use, of a chiming steel guitar on a tremendous country song that because of the uniqueness actually harks back to the late great Hank, in as much as there is very little that stands comparison. It is lyrically and musically curious but highly addictive! Holy Budge Winters is a strange, otherworldly and hugely unconventional country rooted song with a harmony that gives the song an eerie feel and the sparse instrumentation adding more impact. On this song Jimmy Roy adds atmospheric lap steel guitar with Frank Fairfield on pump organ, viola and violin with none of the instrumentation being invasive, allowing those strange disembodied vocal sounds to drive a song that atmospherically at least harks back to the darkest of the sinister old hillbilly days of legend that probably never really existed except in the imagination of writers! Lucille includes a lovely soft melodic guitar sound and Petunia’s vocal at its gentle best, eventually joined by trumpet, drums and violin on another generically indefinable song. Despite this a countryish feel is always present in the background, nothing obvious, but if the listener studies this and previous albums it can be felt if not heard, an impression given by those extraordinary vocals. The title track Inside Of You has just Petunia accompanied by his acoustic guitar on a lovely moody ballad that for him almost follows a conventional path with a soaring heartfelt, atmospheric vocal and beautifully melodic guitar sound. Final mention goes to They Almost Had Me Believing which has a lovely steel guitar in the background on a song that is propelled by a rockabilly beat, with Petunia’s vocal almost restrained on this terrific track. Despite being manifestly a country song there is still something in the song that pushes it to the boundaries, in fact, as by now the reader will be aware, this is something that applies to all of Petunia’s extraordinary music!
This is far from the ‘easy listening’ music of ‘country pop’ but it is certainly music that is easy to listen to and whilst in some ways it can be challenging it repays repeated listening sessions and the reward is that it reveals more and more facets with each session. Too often recordings are tagged as great albums, even though they are obviously not and I’ve been as responsible for that as most, but this truly is a great album by a man of unique talents. I know we are all unique in our own way; it’s just that some people are more unique than others! Petunia is one of those. People always talk about extending musical boundaries; this man pushes them beyond the reach of most and in all probability will always do so. I and an ever growing fan base certainly hope that is the case.
http://www.petuniamusic.com/
I’ve been raving, at least to anyone who will listen, about Petunia’s previous album ‘Petunia and the Vipers,’ ever since first hearing it about two years ago. Since then I’ve seen him perform with the Vipers what was then my gig of the year, played the c.d almost to death and made it my ‘Album of the year’ in 2012. And yet, there was always that nagging question; how could he possibly follow that album with something at least approaching equality. It seemed unlikely this could be achieved so I was then concerned about what I could say about the recording in any review, having raved over its predecessor. I shouldn’t have worried!
For me this new recording is the equal of that incredible 2012 album. It is different but his music will always evolve and change from album to album. He is a musician who seems driven to always stretch himself, to such a degree that he probably can’t control that inner passion that pushes him ever onwards. Much of that drive comes from his unique vocal style which ensures there is always experimentation although not in a ‘prog rock’ search for new sounds either! He is firmly rooted in country music but is happy to play around and develop various other styles within roots music, something very few if any others could even consider doing to the degree that Petunia achieves. It is as if he is searching for his vocal and musical limits but is faced with confusion simply because in all the years he has been recording and touring he is no nearer finding those limits, something all roots music fans should be eternally grateful for.
His influences come from myriad, ever evolving strands of ‘roots music’ that have been passed down through many generations of ‘hillbillies,’ blues musicians and even to a small degree jazz; in a nutshell, the whole gamut of ‘American music.’ That is not to say he can’t do ‘traditional country music;’ he is at the top of the game with his pure country ballads but is just as likely to then perform something by Hoagy Carmichael, before going off into rockabilly, blues and myriad other evolutionary offshoots, some of them so blended as to be stylistically unrecognisable, although ultimately recognizably Petunia!
As with his previous, career defining release, Petunia’s country roots always shine through but it is a real stretch to call this recording a ‘country album.’ The songs seem to meander all over the place but that is as much due to his extraordinary vocal dexterity as it is to the songs and arrangements. It is safe to say that generically and vocally there is no other musician alive today who can be compared to this man of such extraordinary talents. Such is his vocal range and mastery that I’ve often had the impression he has to restrain himself and soften the power at his disposal. When I saw him live with the Vipers a couple of years ago I was incredibly impressed by the way he works his voice as if it is several disparate instruments that come together to form a unique sound. Despite the fact that this is not overtly ‘hillbilly music’ the impression is that he is driven by those ghosts of old to ensure his music, whilst modern, has some of that spooky otherworldliness of the long gone old timers such as Dock Boggs early recordings which had a recognisably otherworldly presence to them. The music is on a totally different level to anything that came before or is currently around and in many ways extends the boundaries of country music by picking up the threads from where everyone else stops, thinking they’ve taken it as far as it can go, when in actual fact they’ve only taken it to where Petunia starts!
The Vipers make up part of the talented musical assemblage on this album that includes assistance from a number of other musicians who add their skills to help Petunia towards fulfilling his musical vision, although if you asked him he would probably say, despite the skills on offer, he is no nearer to attaining that vision, unless of course that vision extends beyond known genres into a sub genre called ‘diversity,’in which case he could be there! All songs were written by Petunia (R. Fortugno) and the album was co produced by him and Phil Sgriccia, with the recording carried out at Riverbank Mobile Sound in Vancouver, Canada.
Where do we start with pen pictures of some of the songs? I think it has to be totally at random, simply because the styles and variations are so diverse that to describe the album as a whole would entail writing about every song. I’ve ‘waffled’ enough about the man so here goes with some of his songs! Forgotten Melody includes a nice chunky bass and percussion on a slowish song on which his vocals are as fascinating as ever, from aggressive otherworldliness to deep and warm, with an unusual arrangement that is pretty much par for the course. It has a nice dominant acoustic guitar sound, supplemented by a lovely trumpet break and an eerie repetitious fiddle that gradually builds tension as do Petunia’s vocals! Bicycle Song is propelled by an unusual sound, or at least use, of a chiming steel guitar on a tremendous country song that because of the uniqueness actually harks back to the late great Hank, in as much as there is very little that stands comparison. It is lyrically and musically curious but highly addictive! Holy Budge Winters is a strange, otherworldly and hugely unconventional country rooted song with a harmony that gives the song an eerie feel and the sparse instrumentation adding more impact. On this song Jimmy Roy adds atmospheric lap steel guitar with Frank Fairfield on pump organ, viola and violin with none of the instrumentation being invasive, allowing those strange disembodied vocal sounds to drive a song that atmospherically at least harks back to the darkest of the sinister old hillbilly days of legend that probably never really existed except in the imagination of writers! Lucille includes a lovely soft melodic guitar sound and Petunia’s vocal at its gentle best, eventually joined by trumpet, drums and violin on another generically indefinable song. Despite this a countryish feel is always present in the background, nothing obvious, but if the listener studies this and previous albums it can be felt if not heard, an impression given by those extraordinary vocals. The title track Inside Of You has just Petunia accompanied by his acoustic guitar on a lovely moody ballad that for him almost follows a conventional path with a soaring heartfelt, atmospheric vocal and beautifully melodic guitar sound. Final mention goes to They Almost Had Me Believing which has a lovely steel guitar in the background on a song that is propelled by a rockabilly beat, with Petunia’s vocal almost restrained on this terrific track. Despite being manifestly a country song there is still something in the song that pushes it to the boundaries, in fact, as by now the reader will be aware, this is something that applies to all of Petunia’s extraordinary music!
This is far from the ‘easy listening’ music of ‘country pop’ but it is certainly music that is easy to listen to and whilst in some ways it can be challenging it repays repeated listening sessions and the reward is that it reveals more and more facets with each session. Too often recordings are tagged as great albums, even though they are obviously not and I’ve been as responsible for that as most, but this truly is a great album by a man of unique talents. I know we are all unique in our own way; it’s just that some people are more unique than others! Petunia is one of those. People always talk about extending musical boundaries; this man pushes them beyond the reach of most and in all probability will always do so. I and an ever growing fan base certainly hope that is the case.
http://www.petuniamusic.com/