Bill Frisell - Good Dog, Happy Man

Title: Good Dog, Happy Man Artist: Bill Frisell Release Date: 5/18/1999 Re-Released On: 0/0/1999 Label: Nonesuch Records Duration: 61:51 UPCs: 075597953626, 075597990348 Genre: Jazz Styles: Modern Creative, Post-Bop, Jazz Instrument, Guitar Jazz Moods: Amiable/Good-Natured, Cerebral, Freewheeling, Laid-Back/Mellow, Playful, Refined/Mannered, Reflective, Searching, Ambitious, Complex, Dramatic, Earnest, Elaborate, Hypnotic, Literate, Meandering, Passionate, Plaintive, Precious, Provocative, Sentimental, Sophisticated, Spacey, Stately, Uncompromising, Witty, Wry Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Rain, Rain
2. Roscoe
3. Big Shoe
4. My Buffalo Girl
5. Shenandoah (for Johnny Smith)
6. Cadillac 1959
7. The Pioneers
8. Cold Cold Ground
9. That Was Then
10. Monroe
11. Good Dog, Happy Man
12. Poem for Eva

Year Type Label Catalog # 2008 CD Nonesuch Records 1999 CD Nonesuch Records 79536

Good Dog, Happy Man [LP/CD]

No doubt pleased with his countrified direction on Gone, Just Like a Train, Bill Frisell gives us a lot more of basically the same thing here -- only with expanded numbers in the ranks. Bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Jim Keltner return, now accompanied by Wayne Horvitz's understated organ and piano; Greg Leisz on an assortment of fretted instruments, including the Dobro, pedal steel guitar and mandolin; and on "Shenandoah," Ry Cooder's atmospheric guitars. The first tracks of Good Dog, Happy Man pick up right where Gone, Just Like a Train left off -- low-key, perhaps too low-key -- but tracks like "Big Shoe" and "Cadillac 1959" add a bit of swagger to the lope and "Poem for Eva" sports the best tune. Again, Frisell often captures a loose, evolutionary jamming quality in these sessions, playing the country accents off of his jazz sensibilities. Unlike its predecessor, though, you can't imagine this being recorded on a backwoods front porch, for there are some production tricks and distant-sounding electronic loops that give away its Burbank studio origins. Purists on either side of the jazz/country divide are hereby warned to back off so that the rest of us can enjoy this. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Name Credits Barbara de Wilde Design Bill Frisell National Steel Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Loops, Mandolin, Music Box, Guitar (Acoustic) David Bither ? Greg Calbi Mastering Greg Leisz Lap Steel Guitar, Dobro, Weissenborn, Pedal Steel Jeffrey Shannon Assistant Engineer Jim Keltner Percussion, Drums Judy Clapp Engineer, Mixing Engineer Lee Townsend Producer Michael Wilson Photography Noel Grey Production Assistant Ry Cooder Guitar (Electric), Guitar Viktor Krauss Bass Wayne Horvitz Organ, Piano, Sampling