Search - Clothesline Revival :: They Came From Somewhere

Clothesline on the long drive

Max | 07/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yesterday I had to drive from one end of our state to the other. I took with me the new Clothesline Revival CD, They Came From Somewhere, and their previous release, Long Gone (from 2005). I've been digging the new album in headphones and wanted to see if it sounded equally great in the car. Not everything that thrills me for near listening makes a good companion for driving, but From Somewhere stretched out and proved itself to be a wonderful miler. The soundtrack suited all the changing views, and offered friendly companionship. I brought the earlier album because I had a hunch that these two records might form a unit, and they do seem to speak to each other in an interesting way (one highlighted by remarkable vocal performances, the other almost entirely voiceless). I'd played Long Gone steadily for a few years and then set it aside for a rest. I was about ready to return to it, and it sounds even better than I expected - and I recall it being great. (If you've missed Long Gone, I recommend it highly.)



But about They Came From Somewhere: I really admire the way these songs are built. The arrangements and production allow me to float into the layers of the tracks and find continued interest in there after many listenings. New things keep showing up. There's no sense of a clever producer loading the tunes down with decorations and trendy clutter. The architecture of the arrangements is so smart, so elegant, that everything serves the groove. This is definitely Roots music but what is growing from those roots has a unique and invigorating life to it. How the overall sound manages to be surprising yet feel utterly natural is a wonderful mystery. This record seems both old in a nicely worn way and attractively shiny as if from the near future - it's a future that invites me toward it. The music could be called optimistic for this reason.



I believe the band Clothesline Revival is essentially a duo, Conrad Praetzel and Robert Powell, accompanied by many fantastic guests who are either living or presumed dead (when songs are constructed around solo singing from field recordings from the past). The first two Clothesline albums seemed co-created by the team but, for me, They Came From Somewhere is Praetzel's album. Powell is featured on several cuts, and his steel playing is brilliant as always. (When I heard the song "Clouds That Won't Rain" om my first play-through, I had to replay it 5 or 6 times before I could move on the rest of the cuts, the gorgeous steel part bringing an already beautiful song to a magical place.) But this time around I am aware of everything that Praetzel is doing himself, and I find myself greatly impressed by his chops, his sonic inventiveness, and his expansive range. Grateful for the refreshment he brings me, I like the guy for the choices he's making. I also get a kick out of picturing him assembling these recordings secretly in a little studio in his house somewhere, working away in the wee hours, without the neighbors even knowing about it. He's just in there. And then every once in a while, a CD appears.



In addition to the terrific playing of the two main men, there are several guests, all splendid: Chris Rovetti adding the exactly-right touch on fiddle on one tune, a gentleman named Orville McInturff providing the vocal on the one song that isn't an instrumental (singing from 1972 in Marshall, Arkansasa, and likely no longer on the planet to hear what has been created around his voice), plus two appearances by harmonica king Charlie Musselwhite that absolutely floor me again and again.



So, this is music that will help to carry you cheerfully across New Jersey or whatever state you happen to be traveling through, and it has the kind of headphone fascination that will make doing the dishes an entertaining experience. It's also an album that insipres: every time I listen to it, I feel like playing music. It makes me want to build a multitrack recording in that little room upstairs. I think I'll go there now..."