Baskery

                                                       

In case you would be hazarding a guess as to which Southern U.S State these ladies might come from, think again because you would be on the wrong track. Baskery are a three piece all sister, Alt-Country band from Stockholm, Sweden. Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesson formed the group in 2006 as an offshoot of a previous union called The Slaptones which included their father Janåke Bondesson on drums. Baskery's first album 'Fall Among Thieves'  was released on the German label Glitterhouse Records in 2008. Describing their own music as 'mud-country' or 'kilbilly' they have cut their own furrow as a uniquely thrilling live act. Regularly touring Europe, they also featured as one of the favoured groups at the SXSW festival in Austin Texas last March.

This is one of the songs from that album called 'Haunt You' performed here at Östersund in their native Sweden for a TV show last year.

      

No strangers to the live circut worldwide, Baskery have already played at the Kilkenny Rythym and Roots Festival in Ireland and have even played at the U.K's biggest festival Glastonbury.

Currently playing shows in Scandinavia, they are off to Canada for several dates in September to promote their new album called 'New Friends' released on 'Blue Rose Records'. 

'New Friends' have received a very favourable review in this months UNCUT magazine. I will be posting more about that album at a later stage.

Meanwhile it has to be mentioned that probably the last thing to expect from a young Swedish band would perhaps be a combination of Banjo, Double Bass and Acoustic guitars. This is what makes Baskery stand out to say the least.

Here is a live clip from the Kilkenny Rythym and Roots Festival back in 2008..

                                                                         

                                              

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..

Joe Bussard- Record Collector.

Now here is a man who loves his music, 75 year old Joe Bussard from Frederick, Maryland U.S.A. is an avid collector of  78-rpm records. Amounting to over 25,000 discs, Joe's collection  is believed to be the world's biggest treasure of old time country, blues, jazz, folk, bluegrass and gospel music (mostly from the 1920's and 1930's).
Today Bussard works on several radio stations including WREK Atlanta and in his earlier years (1956-1970) he managed the record label Fonotone, which was the last label to produce the78-rpm format.
Although he grew up in the early rock n roll era, he has stated that he has no interest whatsoever in modern music, he also claims that good country music died out  after 1953.
'Desperate Man Blues' is an excellent documentary about Bussard, here is the first 10 minutes of it.
The opening shot of him down in his basement, smoking a cigar and not being able to sit still, listening to a record is truly a joyful piece of film.
Watch out also for his passionate reaction to the Charlie Patton record that he puts on the turntable...

In 2003 a compilation of 24 of these recordings were released on cd called 'Down In The Basement; Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78's (1926-1937)' on Old Hat Records.