GRACE & TONY
November
Rock Ridge Music
2-61397
* * * *
It's an old story–two people from different genres meet,
fall in love, marry, and decide to make beautiful music together literally as
well as figuratively. Grace Shultz was a bluegrass musician; Tony White was a
punk rocker. Together they're making folk-styled Country music with all sorts
of other stuff thrown in. November wasn't
a huge jump for White, whose brother was one half of The Civil Wars. But don't
expect a Civil Wars clone from Grace & Tony–his voice is much grittier than
his brother's, and Grace eschews the fragility and angelic tone of Joy Williams
in favor of twang and verve. As befits a former punk rocker like White, though,
some of the material veers toward darker subjects–murder, addiction, and love
gone wrong. That said, their love duet to each other, "Hey Grace, HeyTony" is joyful place where honky tonk intersects with sunny pop. "From
Me to You" is another one on the sweet side. The rest is a mélange.
"Grassphemy" is one of several songs in which old-time music sashays
to the edge of grunge cacophony and makes its way home through better harmonies
than most punk bands ever managed. There are also several
selections–"Chameleon" and "La Carrera"– that blend the sensibilities
of 1930s cowboy/Western music with what the duo calls "punkgrass."
Think a meeting between Buck Page's Riders of the Purple Sage and The Ramones.
There's even a splash of politics, "Electricity Bomb," a post-global
warming ditty as it might have been sung during the 1950s Folk Revival. If you
like your music eclectic, non-electric, and a little bit eccentric, November will warm your autumn soul. –Rob Weir
PS--Gotta love the bowtie/ear plugs combo on Tony in the above video link. That's a new one for me.
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