Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet
(Nettwerk)
By now, we’ve all gotten plenty jaded about weird-ass combinations here on Planet Mash-Up – I’ll see your Robert Plant going bluegrass and raise you Willie Nelson playing blues with Wynton Marsalis – to the point that it takes something mighty off the wall to stand out. And Abigail Washburn’s combination of American bluegrass with Mandarin Chinese definitely qualifies.
Uncle Earl banjo player Washburn learned Chinese as well as old-time banjo in college, a combination she has taken to some unexpected places (including a 2007 tour of Tibet). Sparrow Quartet teams her up with like-minded boundary stretchers including cellist Ben Sollee and fellow multi-cultural banjo whiz Bela Fleck. As you would expect, the group’s eponymous debut has impeccable chops to go with its bizarre combinations. The two songs with Chinese lyrics sound transported in from another planet, particularly the album-closing “Journey Home.” But even the instrumentals and English-language tracks carry an exotic air – imagine an Appalachian back-porch hootenanny shanghaied to a Yangtze River barge with a Wild West poker game going on.
Incongruous though the parts seem to be, they fit together into more of a cohesive whole than you’d imagine possible. Washburn and her mates bring it off well enough that this feels like anything but a stunt.
Standout Tracks: “Banjo Pickin’ Girl,” “Taiyang Chulai” DAVID MENCONI
