Dominique Eade & Ran Blake - Town & Country (2017) [Official Digital Download]

Vocalist Dominique Eade and pianist Ran Blake take a stark, mesmerising journey through the American folk tradition on their second duo collaboration 'Town and Country', offers unique takes on Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, traditional folk tunes, gospel classics and more.

Plainspoken but poetic, timely and timeless, poignant yet pointed: the American folk song has a long history of confronting specific injustices while embracing a universal humanity. On the 'Town and Country' Eade and Blake take the long view of our own tumultuous moment in history with a wide-ranging collection of folk tunes that examine the travails of Americans from Main Street to the mountains.

There are the expected classic tunes and country ballads, the ill-fated coalminers, the tragic romantics grasping out their last breaths, the cries of faith and determination sent heavenward. But in the agile imaginations of these two inventive artists, who share a love for skewing the traditional through a modernist lens, the folk idea is broad enough to include film noir laments and TV-scaled road songs, moonlit love and Third Stream austerity.

"With her clear and radiant but forcefully grounded voice, Eade investigates the songs like a diamond cutter, taking time to highlight their unique harmonic facets while never losing sight of their emotional meaning. Blake's spare, elegant backing illuminates her in a wintry light, with occasional dissonant shivers." - Lloyd Sachs, Jazz Press

"A triumphant performance that is refreshingly original, extraordinarily imaginative, brimming with ineffable confidence, shows a boldness that knows no limit, and seems to deliver itself from a source of happiness dispossessed of any particular reason." - C.J. Bond

Tracklist:

01. Lullaby (0:55)
02. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (3:56)
03. Moon River (3:37)
04. West Virginia Mine Disaster (Take 2) (2:37)
05. Elijah Rock (3:29)
06. Give My Love to Rose (3:49)
07. Harvest At Massachussetts General Hospital (Take 2) (1:40)
08. The Easter Tree (2:14)
09. Moonglow (Theme from Picnic) (3:54)
10. Thoreau (2:31)
11. Moti (1:51)
12. Pretty Fly (1:42)
13. Open Highway (3:15)
14. Gunther (2:03)
15. West Virginia Mine Disaster (Take 1) (3:09)
16. Harvest At Massachussetts General Hospital (Take 1) (1:11)
17. Moonlight in Vermont (3:23)
18. Goodnight Irene (2:21)

Personnel:

Dominique Eade - vocals
Ran Blake - piano



All thanks go to the original releaser