Frank Fairfied Live At The Grand Social Dublin 18/01/2014.

The first gig I attended this year was at  Dublin's Grand Social, located on lower Liffey Street to see the great American folk artist Frank Fairfield last month.

I've mentioned this Californian man before on a few occasions on this blog since discovering  his music on an Uncut magazine promo CD over 3 years ago. I was also lucky enough to see his performance at The End Of The Road Festival in Dorset in  2012 which I must add was a bona fida highlight of that weekend.

If you listen to Fairfield's self titled debut album from 2009, you will be hard pushed to find a more stripped back or raw recording from this century . It comes as no surprise that this man is an avid collector of vintage 78rpm records, he seems to live and breathe and play in a style from a bygone era.

His latest release 'Duncan and Brady' is a 7" vinyl available through Jack White's label Third Man Records.

Taking in Kilkenny and Dundalk on a short stopover of a European tour, Frank completed his 3rd Irish date in the capital city upstairs in The Loft venue of The Grand Social.

Something extraordinary happens when this man takes the stage because despite his sometimes conspicuous shyness, he soon becomes enraptured in the music that flows from his guitar, fiddle or banjo.

The crowd tonight were a mix of age groups, some perhaps were just curious to check this guy out without knowing much of his work while many more were well familiar with him.

It was clear that Fairfield was enjoying his time in Ireland, mentioning that he had met 'so many sweet people along the way'. 15 minutes of so into his set tonight  left few punters unable to keep their feet from tapping against the wooden floor. At one point while tuning his fiddle, one of his bow strings broke, he politely excused himself and walked backstage to retrieve a spare one from a box much to his and everyone else's amusement.

There was time too for requests, most notable, 'Old Paint' a beautiful cowboy ballad that someone from the crowd wisely suggested him to play. Holding the fiddle down low to his breast, while singing in that distinctively raspy American voice, Fairfield seemed like a character from an 1800's gold rush era film.

Clearly he had won over an amount of new followers tonight as almost everyone stood up from their seats to applaud loudly as his time on stage came to a close.

Afterwards he kindly waited around to chat with the people there and stand for photos and sign some Cd's.

I got to shake his hand and shyly mumble some words of appreciation on his return to Ireland, I hope he understood that I was so glad to be there tonight.

I was fortunate enough to get him to autograph a copy of 'Turn Me Loose' a CD compilation curated by himself of some of his favourite 78 rpm's, a unique collection of Anglo-American vernacular pieces selected from the gramophone era. You will find this collection on the Tompkins Square record label along with his debut album and his follow up 'Out On The Open West'.

Frank Fairfield Live @ Amoeba Music Store Hollywood.

Amoeba Music provide some of  the most impressive independent music stores in the U.S with retail shops located in Berkeley, San Francisco and Hollywood, California.
Established since 1990 Amoeba are more than just a record store, their vast amount of stock caters for literally every type of musical tastes on CD,  and vinyl formats. Their stock changes on a daily basis because they are a trading post for both new and used albums, covering everything from Jazz, World, Roots, Chart, Rock, the list is endless. Luckily for those of us living on the other side of the world, they provide a mailing service through their website which is second to none. Amoeba Music bagan at a time when huge chain stores were,cancelling out independent record shops and depriving music lovers of a more personal connection with their outlets.
Another addition to this great concept is that each store provides a live venue for performing musicians. Previous performances include such diverse acts as Africa's Basskou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, the ever prolific Bonnie Prince Billy, Elvis Costello and Jonsi to name but a few. There are literally dozens of shows to be seen on the website. My personal favourite is Frank Fairfield's set seen here at the Hollywood store in October 2009 playing alongside fellow string player Tom Marrion. This is just under a half hour of  greatness..

Frank Fairfield/ Out On The Open West

Frank Fairfield is back with a new album called 'Out On The Open West', again available on the Tompkins Square label. It seems undoubtedly Fairfield can do no wrong with anything he puts his unique magical talents to. 'Out On The Open West' is somewhat a more expansive outing in comparison to his 2009 eponymous debut. Guests on this record include Willie Watson from Old Crow Medicine Show and Jerron 'Blind Boy' Paxton among others to create a more fuller sound without losing touch with the ancient roots tone with which he is synonymous with. This time round, Fairfield has opted for supplying mostly his own self penned songs to this collection which further expands his credibility as a creative artiste. This is a video of Frank and companions featuring: Josh Petrojvic and Zac Sokolow on violin, with Charles DeCastro on cello filmed in his living room performing 'Poor Old Lance' from the album. This is really a thrilling piece of music...

Frank Fairfield - "Poor Old Lance" from MizzMeister on Vimeo.

Frank Fairfield was recently described as 'a one man folk revival' by NPR, a worthy title no doubt for a man who is breathing new life into American roots music. His live shows are being very favourably described by critics at home and most recently on his tour of the U.K and Germany. My list of live acts to see has Frank Fairfield heavily underlined and I can't wait to hear one day that he will be playing over here in Ireland.
The full track titles on the album are as follows.

1.Frazier Blues, 2.Kings County Breakdown, 3.Someday You'll Be Free, 4.Haste To The Wedding/The Darling True Love,5. Turkey In The Straw/Arkansas Traveler, 6. But That's Alright,7. Poor Old Lance,
8. Up The Road Somewhere Blues,  9. The Winding Spring, 10. Out On The Open West , 11. Ruthie 3:39,
12. Texas Farewell.
This is a live clip of 'Texas Farewell' filmed in Los Angeles earlier this year..

  

Frank Fairfield

One could be forgiven for thinking the music of Frank Fairfield on first listen could perhaps be that of an Alan Lomax recording from the 1930's. Likewise Fairfield could easily be wrongly identified as an Appalachian bluegrass troubadour from a bygone age, when in fact this guy is a twenty something year old from California. His appearance is that of a man who could have stepped off a time machine, with hair parted and usually wearing tweed suits that look like they could have been tailored in another era. He has played support to Fleet Fox's on their last US tour, a far cry from busking around the streets of LA previously.

His debut self titled album released in 2009, can be found on the New York based Tompkins Square record label and is a joyful listen for any fan of American roots music.

In November 2009 Fairfied appeared  live on KEXP radio for an interview and session, this is a video clip of that show with him playing 'Rye Whiskey' which is nothing short of outstanding..

It is no surprise also that Frank Fairfield is an avid 78rpm record collector, so much so that last year he released a compilation cd of 16 favoured tracks that covers worldwide gramaphone recordings from 1916-1964. It includes dusty selections from as afar afield as Japan, Kenya and Indonesia along with various regional pockets of the U.S.

You will also find this collection called 'Unheard Ofs And Forgotten Abouts' on the Tompkins Square label.

This clip is again another piece of the KEXP radio live session, here he plays the Appalachian folk song 'Cumberland Gap' a song that is thought to have been penned in the latter part of the 19th century and first recorded by a Tennessee fiddler called Ambrose G Stuart in 1924..