08/01/2008

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet

(Nettwerk)      

 

www.nettwerk.com

 

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

 

 


Browse / View All
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Recent Reviews
The Killer in Me by Amy Speace
07/03/2009
Faith by Crown Of Thorns
07/03/2009
The Holy Open Secret by Hoots and Hellmouth
07/03/2009
Far by Regina Spektor
07/03/2009
Person to Person by Foreign Born
07/02/2009
Blood From a Stone by Hanne Hukkelberg
07/02/2009
Miike Snow by Miike Snow
07/02/2009
Terradactyl by Serengeti & Polyphonic
07/02/2009
Perch by Trainwreck Riders
07/01/2009
Help by Thee Ohsees
07/01/2009
Survival Strategies in a Modern World by Liechtenstein
07/01/2009
Of the Cathmawr Yards by The Horse’s Ha
07/01/2009
Battle for the Sun by Placebo
06/30/2009
Candylion by Harold Budd and Clive Wright
06/30/2009
Oh For The Getting and Not Letting Go by All Smiles
06/30/2009
So Long, It’s Been Good To Know You by Phil Lee
06/30/2009
Standby by Ex-Norwegian
06/29/2009
Posthmous Success by Tom Brousseau
06/29/2009
Pentatonic Wars And Love Songs by Otis Taylor
06/29/2009