PIEDMONT BROTHERS BAND – PBBIII
2013 - Catapult
The biggest problem with this album is knowing exactly where and how to start describing an extraordinary collection of songs that are a very real throwback to the early days of ‘classic country rock’ and if ever an album could
be given that label it’s this one. It clocks in at nearly an hour and contains fourteen songs, most of them band originals but also some tremendous covers on which some of the legendary originators of the genre help out with some tremendous playing, vocals and harmonies that are pretty much unsurpassable. And yet, this is very much a band effort with those guests not just adding their names to the roll call but also making a positive contribution. I would imagine they already knew the band from their previous recordings and were happy to help a group that plays with such consummate skill and commitment to the music. Included are Richie Furay (Poco), Jock Bartley (lead guitar in Gram Parsons Fallen Angels and now Firefall), Pat Shanahan (founder member of Rick Nelsons Stone Canyon Band and later New Riders of the Purple Sage) Rick Roberts (Flying Burrito Brothers, Firefall) and Herb Pedersen whose list of credits would take a page on their own, but includes The Desert Rose Band, a band that are often evoked on some of the original songs.
What makes the situation even more extraordinary is that the two men who started the band live on different continents, although the band name comes from the fact that they both live in Piedmont regions! Ron Martin, vocals and guitar as well as songwriter hails from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains whilst Marco Zanzi lives in Varese, Italy in the Pre alps area. They got together thanks to a shared love of country rock having met on a Byrds website and the rest as they ……..……..!
Whilst the album is impossible to label as anything other than country rock, it often blends European and
Celtic folk with country and rock, bringing a freshness to some excellent originals as well as the ‘old’ classics.
To give some idea of the work involved in putting this album together it is probably necessary to list the names and instruments of those involved, so here goes. Ron Martin, vocals and guitar, Marco Zanzi, vocals, banjo, lap steel, dobro, mandolin, auto harp, dulcimer, bass, keyboards, Francesco De Chiara plays mandolin, flutes and pipes, Manuel Corato, vocals, guitars, keyboards, Francesco Fruegiuele on electric bass and guitars, Mike Gallivan,
electric bass and guitars, Anna Satta, fiddle, Franco Svanoni, drums and percussion, Katherine Kelly Walczyk, vocals, Stefano Zanrosso on upright bass, guitars, trumpet and percussion. Occasionally a strong Italian vocal accent was easily detectable but in many ways this adds appeal, knowing that the music so many in the English speaking world loved, was not isolated to just us but was being picked up on wherever music was played, as evidenced by the variety of nationalities playing generic country music that is sent out to reviewers such as me thanks in no small part to the www!
The album opens on a high with their tremendous reworking of the Gene Clark classic, Full Circle, which
features both Jock Bartley and Pat Shanahan and in many ways pays a huge tribute to the original and to the skills of this band in still possessing a power and melody that sends a shiver down the spine. This is followed by another old classic in (I Like) The Christian Life, a song written and made famous by the Louvin Brothers and latterly the
Byrds. Here we have guests Richie Furay and Herb Pedersen almost unbelievably singing together for the first time ever! Next up is a Ron Martin original, the excellent I Been Dreamin’ ‘Bout You a song that is reminiscent of
so many of it’s progenitors but not exactly like any of them, again with lovely chiming and jangling guitars also featuring Rick Roberts on shared vocal and harmonies and Pat Shanahan on drums. We are treated to Katherine Kelly Walczyk beautiful vocals on Liv Taylor’s I Wish I Were A Cowgirl a song that has a lovely pure country feel, also including excellent steel, dobro and fiddle. There is even a stunning heart wrenching version of Dougie McLeans This love will carry, performed very much as the Celtic folk song it is with Rosella Cellamaro’s beautiful vocal providing a gorgeous break to the dominant country rock. The final track on the album is the epic (over ten minutes) The Highlander Suite, written by various members of the band as a‘three parter’ and well worth the cost of the album for this alone. There are more excellent songs and performances from all involved but I suggest you buy it and feel yourself transported by some highly evocative songs spread over the best part of an hour!
Some might say the album is too much of a throwback but there has to be an argument in favour of keeping ‘traditional music’ alive and country rock is as relevant a part of that tradition as any other sub genre. I know the sound has developed and changed over the last few decades, genres such as alt. country for example being an updated version that has much of it’s roots in country rock, but this genre was a powerful influence on many way back in the 1960s and 70s. Maybe there is even something in the suggestion that Hank Williams played a lot of country rock and people are still attaining great credibility and credit for following in his shoes. If this album
was all covers I probably wouldn’t even be writing about it but the band originals are worthy of the recording and much of the sound does include a folksiness that wasn’t really part of the generic sound forty to fifty years
ago. I can’t say I like everything on it but I do love the album. I would say that if you are a fan of the Byrds, Desert Rose band, Poco and others of the great classic country rock bands you will almost certainly love it too!
Whilst nothing particularly new is brought to the classic songs that are covered on this album they are a superb exercise in heartfelt and tremendously skilled lead vocals, harmonies and playing, but also illustrate the quality of the writing and matchless arrangements of the originals, bringing a general freshening up that should make people want to explore those originals. The new songs however do bring a freshness and in many ways an update to a classic musical genre that may hopefully get new listeners to investigate the originals from the late 1960s and 70s. Do that and I’m pretty sure the Brothers will be vindicated as well as having many new fans!
http://www.piedmontbrothersband.com/
The biggest problem with this album is knowing exactly where and how to start describing an extraordinary collection of songs that are a very real throwback to the early days of ‘classic country rock’ and if ever an album could
be given that label it’s this one. It clocks in at nearly an hour and contains fourteen songs, most of them band originals but also some tremendous covers on which some of the legendary originators of the genre help out with some tremendous playing, vocals and harmonies that are pretty much unsurpassable. And yet, this is very much a band effort with those guests not just adding their names to the roll call but also making a positive contribution. I would imagine they already knew the band from their previous recordings and were happy to help a group that plays with such consummate skill and commitment to the music. Included are Richie Furay (Poco), Jock Bartley (lead guitar in Gram Parsons Fallen Angels and now Firefall), Pat Shanahan (founder member of Rick Nelsons Stone Canyon Band and later New Riders of the Purple Sage) Rick Roberts (Flying Burrito Brothers, Firefall) and Herb Pedersen whose list of credits would take a page on their own, but includes The Desert Rose Band, a band that are often evoked on some of the original songs.
What makes the situation even more extraordinary is that the two men who started the band live on different continents, although the band name comes from the fact that they both live in Piedmont regions! Ron Martin, vocals and guitar as well as songwriter hails from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains whilst Marco Zanzi lives in Varese, Italy in the Pre alps area. They got together thanks to a shared love of country rock having met on a Byrds website and the rest as they ……..……..!
Whilst the album is impossible to label as anything other than country rock, it often blends European and
Celtic folk with country and rock, bringing a freshness to some excellent originals as well as the ‘old’ classics.
To give some idea of the work involved in putting this album together it is probably necessary to list the names and instruments of those involved, so here goes. Ron Martin, vocals and guitar, Marco Zanzi, vocals, banjo, lap steel, dobro, mandolin, auto harp, dulcimer, bass, keyboards, Francesco De Chiara plays mandolin, flutes and pipes, Manuel Corato, vocals, guitars, keyboards, Francesco Fruegiuele on electric bass and guitars, Mike Gallivan,
electric bass and guitars, Anna Satta, fiddle, Franco Svanoni, drums and percussion, Katherine Kelly Walczyk, vocals, Stefano Zanrosso on upright bass, guitars, trumpet and percussion. Occasionally a strong Italian vocal accent was easily detectable but in many ways this adds appeal, knowing that the music so many in the English speaking world loved, was not isolated to just us but was being picked up on wherever music was played, as evidenced by the variety of nationalities playing generic country music that is sent out to reviewers such as me thanks in no small part to the www!
The album opens on a high with their tremendous reworking of the Gene Clark classic, Full Circle, which
features both Jock Bartley and Pat Shanahan and in many ways pays a huge tribute to the original and to the skills of this band in still possessing a power and melody that sends a shiver down the spine. This is followed by another old classic in (I Like) The Christian Life, a song written and made famous by the Louvin Brothers and latterly the
Byrds. Here we have guests Richie Furay and Herb Pedersen almost unbelievably singing together for the first time ever! Next up is a Ron Martin original, the excellent I Been Dreamin’ ‘Bout You a song that is reminiscent of
so many of it’s progenitors but not exactly like any of them, again with lovely chiming and jangling guitars also featuring Rick Roberts on shared vocal and harmonies and Pat Shanahan on drums. We are treated to Katherine Kelly Walczyk beautiful vocals on Liv Taylor’s I Wish I Were A Cowgirl a song that has a lovely pure country feel, also including excellent steel, dobro and fiddle. There is even a stunning heart wrenching version of Dougie McLeans This love will carry, performed very much as the Celtic folk song it is with Rosella Cellamaro’s beautiful vocal providing a gorgeous break to the dominant country rock. The final track on the album is the epic (over ten minutes) The Highlander Suite, written by various members of the band as a‘three parter’ and well worth the cost of the album for this alone. There are more excellent songs and performances from all involved but I suggest you buy it and feel yourself transported by some highly evocative songs spread over the best part of an hour!
Some might say the album is too much of a throwback but there has to be an argument in favour of keeping ‘traditional music’ alive and country rock is as relevant a part of that tradition as any other sub genre. I know the sound has developed and changed over the last few decades, genres such as alt. country for example being an updated version that has much of it’s roots in country rock, but this genre was a powerful influence on many way back in the 1960s and 70s. Maybe there is even something in the suggestion that Hank Williams played a lot of country rock and people are still attaining great credibility and credit for following in his shoes. If this album
was all covers I probably wouldn’t even be writing about it but the band originals are worthy of the recording and much of the sound does include a folksiness that wasn’t really part of the generic sound forty to fifty years
ago. I can’t say I like everything on it but I do love the album. I would say that if you are a fan of the Byrds, Desert Rose band, Poco and others of the great classic country rock bands you will almost certainly love it too!
Whilst nothing particularly new is brought to the classic songs that are covered on this album they are a superb exercise in heartfelt and tremendously skilled lead vocals, harmonies and playing, but also illustrate the quality of the writing and matchless arrangements of the originals, bringing a general freshening up that should make people want to explore those originals. The new songs however do bring a freshness and in many ways an update to a classic musical genre that may hopefully get new listeners to investigate the originals from the late 1960s and 70s. Do that and I’m pretty sure the Brothers will be vindicated as well as having many new fans!
http://www.piedmontbrothersband.com/