Search - Eric Tingstad :: Southwest

Southwest
Eric Tingstad
Southwest
Genres: New Age, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1

Southwest was definitely the right direction for Eric Tingstad to turn in discovering a new musical path. Tingstad is best known as the guitar half of his duo with oboist and ocarina player Nancy Rumbel. They've been plyin...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Eric Tingstad
Title: Southwest
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Cheshire Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 3/13/2007
Genres: New Age, Pop
Styles: Meditation, Adult Contemporary, Adult Alternative
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 634479409370

Synopsis

Product Description
Southwest was definitely the right direction for Eric Tingstad to turn in discovering a new musical path. Tingstad is best known as the guitar half of his duo with oboist and ocarina player Nancy Rumbel. They've been plying their pastoral chamber music since the mid 1980s, but Tingstad clearly had some other sounds in mind when he went southwest. From the opening track, "Sunrise at Four Corners", it's obvious this isn't another acoustic chamber work as Terry Lauber's pedal steel articulates an open plains melody. While there are echoes of old country rock bands like Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage, Tingstad's southwestern chamber music also embraces native sounds. "Voices of the Ancient Ones" has native chants from Petra Stahl and the native flutes of Gary Stroutsos creating canyon echoes. Tingstad mixes flat-picking guitar and fingerstyle on this disc, with tunes like "The Last Caballero" sounding like an old folk tune, but with a resonance that comes from glorified memory, making it feel bigger, fuller, and richer than the original probably ever was. Nancy Rumbel hasn't been left behind. She plays on several tracks, her oboe articulating the soulful refrain of "Kiva" against Stahl's chants. The pedal steel anchors this album in country, but this ain't line dances and spilled beer. Tingstad has taken a country sound, touched it with his chamber music aesthetic, and added just enough trail dust to make it earthy and real. -John Diliberto, 2007.

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CD Reviews

No "four cornered" country back-beats here
Andy Plymale | Richland, WA United States | 03/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Given that Southwest is the first solo CD that Eric Tingstad has released in over 10 years, a question that might immediately come to mind is "What sets the CD apart from the standard Tingstad and Rumbel fare?"



The instrumentation obviously is different, with Rumbel appearing only on two tracks (which nevertheless are among the highlights of the CD). Here, the oboist is replaced as Tingstad's melodic foil usually by the pedal steel guitar of Terry Lauber or by the overdubbed guitar lines of Tingstad himself. But perhaps the overriding characteristic that sets Southwest apart from the Tingstad and Rumbel oeuvre is the percussion driven-ness of the CD.



Tingstad admits in the liner notes that he composed most of the tunes on a Native American frame drum, and that is no surprise, given that drums and percussion musically define nearly each tune. Whether it's various hand percussions or full drum kit, it's the infective beats that get under your skin and set the "sense of place" atmosphere of each track.



Doing Tingstad's bidding on frame and udu drums was Tim Miller, while TJ Morris sets driving beats on drum kit and various other percussion. The drum-kit work of Morris, especially, is largely responsible for making Southwest surely the most rhythmically engaging project of Tingstad's career. No "four cornered" country back-beats here."
"Southwest" Heading In The Right Direction
Winslow Bunny | Rockledge, Florida United States | 03/02/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Eric Tingstad's latest venture, "Southwest," is listed as a solo album, but makes liberal use of his long-time collaborator, Nancy Rumbel, and the vocalizations (chanting) of Petra Stahl. A host of other musicians round out the sound of the album, and the result is a sort of dreamy trip to the southwestern part of the U.S. Opening the album on a strong note is "Sunrise at Four Corners," painting a musical picture of the break of day on the reservation. Other songs, such as "Walking in Two Worlds," "Taos Hum," "Rhythm of the Desert" and "Trails End" add to this strong effort of ambient regional feel and imagination. It's a fine album that adds to Tingstad's reputation of a very good musician."