'Tunesmith Retrofit' offers a dozen compositional gems that show Phelps at the peak of his songwriting powers, tackling engaging story songs and soul-baring ballads with equal aplomb. Although his musical foundation remains country-blues and folk music, there’s nothing traditional or predictable about Phelps’ lyrical approach, which features distinctive images and refreshing turns of phrase. In the gentle ballad “Spanish Hands,” he describes a lover variously as “a gentle bell…a cat eye” and “a gold breath on a wire.” And the moody “Loud as Ears” paints a vivid portrait of a couple at odds with each other: “he’ll nod off and she will sing/he won’t dream while she won’t sew.” Beyond the rich wordplay, Phelps latest album serves up several musical surprises, including the first original instrumentals he’s ever recorded. “MacDougal” is a spirited ragtime homage to folk legend Dave Van Ronk, who was known as the Mayor of Greenwich Village’s MacDougal Street. The other two tracks showcase instruments never featured before on Phelps’ albums. The carnival-like title track finds him playing the plaintive melodica, while “Scapegoat” has him picking a lightning-fast banjo, an instrument that Phelps abandoned at the age of 25. When a recent conversation with his girlfriend reminded him of his early love of the banjo, he rushed out that day and bought himself one. “I started sawing away and all these tunes just flowed,” recalls Phelps. “A month later, I bought another one.” Phelps’ renewed passion for the banjo also figures in the driving “Handful of Arrows,” his tribute to Chris Whitley, the acclaimed blues/rock guitarist who died last year. “Show them your hands,” Phelps sings, “Hit ’em with that old, steel gun.” Like the late Whitley, Phelps was a revered slide guitarist. Acoustic Guitar once raved that Phelps “left behind a trail of guitarists with wide eyes, shaking heads and jaws bruised from hitting the floor.” Also a fan of literary figures ranging from Ray Bradbury to Wallace Stevens, Phelps’ lyrics are integral to his music vision. “I’m always trying to identify parts that could use improving,” he once said, “and figuring out what it might take to accomplish that.”
The talents of Dawson, Zubot, and Gestrin show up again on 'Tunesmith Retrofit.' Zubot’s fiddle solo imbues the mellifluous opener, “Crow’s Nest,” a song about being open and honest, with an unmistakable warmth. Dawson lends a haunting tremolo weissenborn and pedal steel to “Spanish Hands,” while Gestrin provides organ to “The Anvil” and an eerie melodica to “Big Shakey.” Phelps’ music comes alive thanks to masterful musicianship and superb songwriting. Nowhere is that more apparent than on 'Tunesmith Retrofit,' an album of musical depth and poetic charm that seems destined to bring this gifted artist the larger audience he deserves. Other talk about Kelly Joe:
Tunesmith
Retrofit (Rounder, 2006) |
As
a tunesmith, Kelly Joe Phelps already has a proven track record,
with a catalogue of original songs infused with what The Washington
Post calls “poignancy, passion and spirituality.” But
on his sixth studio album, the Portland, Oregon-based musician still
felt the need to retrofit new elements into his songwriting. “Part
of it is shifting focus, away from music heavily driven by guitar
to music that’s more driven by the song,” explains Phelps. “The
record is stripped back in relation to the last two studio efforts,
balancing combinations of solo, duo, trio and quartet and bridging
the gap between my early solo recordings and later band outings.”
Steve
Earle: "Kelly Joe Phelps plays, sings, and writes
the blues. HOLD UP before you lock that in - forget about songs
in a twelve bar three chord progression with a two line repeat
and answer rhyme structure - though he can certainly do that when
he wants to. I'm talking about a feeling, a smoky, lonesome, painful
- yet somehow comforting groove that lets you know that you are
not alone - even when you're blue. Play on brother."