THREE TIMES BAD – AMERICAN SOJOURN
2014 – Self Released
It is a very rare occurrence when an album is born from a book, but that is most certainly the case with ‘American Sojourn.’ Band leader and multi media artist Jesus Angel Garcia recently published a gritty, gripping trans media novel entitled “Badbadbad,” from which sprung this album and in many ways the band! That is not to say the band are now set to disappear; maybe it is their current situation that has forced them to jump start a great musical career and certainly a great sense of musical style.
The lineup varies considerably but the core is Garcia on acoustic guitar, banjo and lead vocals, virtuoso mandolinist Thomas Romero, upright bassist Megan McDevitt, and fiddler Jean-Pierre Duboucheron and in line with the great American folk tradition, everyone in the band sings! They are certainly not a bluegrass band; more likely a ‘hillbilly’ or ‘old timey’ or ‘string band’ but perhaps their own label ‘dirty American roots music’ is the best description of their style that even has a hint of ‘vaudeville’ and yet the overall blend is of an indeterminate vintage. It would probably have a fair degree of accuracy to say that conceptually the album is a throwback to the time when most of these musical strains were simply blended with the current pop music to form an entertainment for people at their Saturday night hoedowns and such like. In the main it is simply good time music that has an appealing ramshackleness in terms of lead and harmony vocals but nothing else would suffice. If it had a polished feel much of the old time charm would be lost. It is the raucous vocals and harmonies that add to the huge appeal of their music and makes me long to see them live, a habitat in which, according to reports, they thrive!
Most of the lyrics are taken from ‘Badbadbad,’ although these songs are sometimes linked by traditional music and even an old Bill Monroe song. It is a brilliantly conceived album that will hopefully lead to more albums of this virtually unique style of music that they play. The whole thing has the feel of an almost amateur ramshackleness but gradually listeners will, like me, realize this is a band that is so good it makes ramshackleness easy! There is a mastery of their instruments and arrangements that enables them to roam at will through various old time genres that contain not only a large slice of ‘hillbilly,’ but also folk, a little western swing, blues, jazz, all played in their own unique and inimitably unique style.
A clue is given to the content by a short but sweet banjo instrumental, When You Ain’t No Longer, before segueing into Two Legged Hillbilly Cyborg Dog with its almost western swing fiddle intro before banjo joins forces and choral hillbilly harmonies are added leading to the raw nasally lead vocal on a song that swings along nicely. Southern Hospitality Gun, Knife And Dog Show is a lovely slow, quite moving ballad that is propelled by a mellow, if mournful, fiddle with excellent bass and mandolin and the usual raw vocal on an otherworldly, slightly sinister folk song. More raucousness follows on Mary Jane Hangin’ On That Vine a Bill Monroe song that in these hands is part hillbilly, part vaudeville, part folk and lord knows what else but with some excellent duo harmonies and driving mandolin. It is a song that ends abruptly, producing a shock for the listener as it immediately segues into Resurrection Specialist introduced by banjo and fiddle before a more restrained lead vocal and harmonies come in on a song that is structurally more recognizable than most of the other fourteen songs on this album! In Love With The Reverends Wife is introduced by old radio noises before nice fiddle and percussion come in on a catchy song that has hints of a gypsy fairground feel on a tale that is easy to trace lyrically to early events in the book. Finally, Kaddisha Lemonade is a seven plus minutes epic that contains a lovely melodic guitar intro with bowed bass and acoustic guitar, with lovely mandolin, on a slow unusual ballad that varies the flow bringing diversity to an excellent song and album that passes all too quickly.
Should they have access to a time machine they would be welcomed many decades ago as superstars, but in this day of manufactured stars they will be lost to the ‘public at large’ thanks to the hype surrounding the ‘next big thing’ whatever that may be. It is a huge shame that supremely talented bands such as this who actually bring their own originality to old music forms are never given the credit or publicity they so deserve. Fortunately the www at least gives us enthusiasts the ability to explore ‘cult’ sounds and gives those same musicians the ability to get their music out there, so who knows, in the future the general pop music buying public may realize that they are being short changed by their ‘stars’ and perhaps the balance will be redressed in favour of great music such as this. An addictive album, so buy it and the book!
http://threetimesbad.com/
It is a very rare occurrence when an album is born from a book, but that is most certainly the case with ‘American Sojourn.’ Band leader and multi media artist Jesus Angel Garcia recently published a gritty, gripping trans media novel entitled “Badbadbad,” from which sprung this album and in many ways the band! That is not to say the band are now set to disappear; maybe it is their current situation that has forced them to jump start a great musical career and certainly a great sense of musical style.
The lineup varies considerably but the core is Garcia on acoustic guitar, banjo and lead vocals, virtuoso mandolinist Thomas Romero, upright bassist Megan McDevitt, and fiddler Jean-Pierre Duboucheron and in line with the great American folk tradition, everyone in the band sings! They are certainly not a bluegrass band; more likely a ‘hillbilly’ or ‘old timey’ or ‘string band’ but perhaps their own label ‘dirty American roots music’ is the best description of their style that even has a hint of ‘vaudeville’ and yet the overall blend is of an indeterminate vintage. It would probably have a fair degree of accuracy to say that conceptually the album is a throwback to the time when most of these musical strains were simply blended with the current pop music to form an entertainment for people at their Saturday night hoedowns and such like. In the main it is simply good time music that has an appealing ramshackleness in terms of lead and harmony vocals but nothing else would suffice. If it had a polished feel much of the old time charm would be lost. It is the raucous vocals and harmonies that add to the huge appeal of their music and makes me long to see them live, a habitat in which, according to reports, they thrive!
Most of the lyrics are taken from ‘Badbadbad,’ although these songs are sometimes linked by traditional music and even an old Bill Monroe song. It is a brilliantly conceived album that will hopefully lead to more albums of this virtually unique style of music that they play. The whole thing has the feel of an almost amateur ramshackleness but gradually listeners will, like me, realize this is a band that is so good it makes ramshackleness easy! There is a mastery of their instruments and arrangements that enables them to roam at will through various old time genres that contain not only a large slice of ‘hillbilly,’ but also folk, a little western swing, blues, jazz, all played in their own unique and inimitably unique style.
A clue is given to the content by a short but sweet banjo instrumental, When You Ain’t No Longer, before segueing into Two Legged Hillbilly Cyborg Dog with its almost western swing fiddle intro before banjo joins forces and choral hillbilly harmonies are added leading to the raw nasally lead vocal on a song that swings along nicely. Southern Hospitality Gun, Knife And Dog Show is a lovely slow, quite moving ballad that is propelled by a mellow, if mournful, fiddle with excellent bass and mandolin and the usual raw vocal on an otherworldly, slightly sinister folk song. More raucousness follows on Mary Jane Hangin’ On That Vine a Bill Monroe song that in these hands is part hillbilly, part vaudeville, part folk and lord knows what else but with some excellent duo harmonies and driving mandolin. It is a song that ends abruptly, producing a shock for the listener as it immediately segues into Resurrection Specialist introduced by banjo and fiddle before a more restrained lead vocal and harmonies come in on a song that is structurally more recognizable than most of the other fourteen songs on this album! In Love With The Reverends Wife is introduced by old radio noises before nice fiddle and percussion come in on a catchy song that has hints of a gypsy fairground feel on a tale that is easy to trace lyrically to early events in the book. Finally, Kaddisha Lemonade is a seven plus minutes epic that contains a lovely melodic guitar intro with bowed bass and acoustic guitar, with lovely mandolin, on a slow unusual ballad that varies the flow bringing diversity to an excellent song and album that passes all too quickly.
Should they have access to a time machine they would be welcomed many decades ago as superstars, but in this day of manufactured stars they will be lost to the ‘public at large’ thanks to the hype surrounding the ‘next big thing’ whatever that may be. It is a huge shame that supremely talented bands such as this who actually bring their own originality to old music forms are never given the credit or publicity they so deserve. Fortunately the www at least gives us enthusiasts the ability to explore ‘cult’ sounds and gives those same musicians the ability to get their music out there, so who knows, in the future the general pop music buying public may realize that they are being short changed by their ‘stars’ and perhaps the balance will be redressed in favour of great music such as this. An addictive album, so buy it and the book!
http://threetimesbad.com/