Tim O’Brien and The Crossing
Where: Asheville Music Zone
When: Saturday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m.
How Much: $17.50 in advance, $20 at the door
Info: Call 828.255.8811

“Art can be a neutral ground where you’re free to experiment and it can be a healing element. It’s true, in the United States, Irish Protestant and Catholics mix a lot more. Whereas, over there (in Ireland), it’s still a political division. They’ve made it some sort of racial division. I’ve had a lot of people come up and tell me the music is a way for the Protestants and Catholics to realize that they have a common heritage and that they are all Irish.”

Tim O’Brien talking to Scene Magazine’s Holly Kintz about his musical direction and his new album, “Two Journeys”

Tim O’Brien has become my year round apple tree. At anytime of day, regardless of seasonal fury, I can pick from Tim’s many fruits and know that it’s free of worms. Any album from his original band, Hot Rize (with alter-ego Red Knuckles), nourished the ‘70s Colorado bluegrass scene with traditional nutrition; twining efforts with fellow West Virginia native Kathy Mattea and his sister, Mollie O’Brien, kept the crop fertile; and projects like “Real Time” (recorded entirely in Darrell Scott’s 2-story A-Frame, complete with a corrugated tin roof) and “Songs From the Mountain” (music inspired from Charles Frazier’s “Cold Mountain”) have made Tim’s “trees” impervious to cold bites from critics and fans.

It’s hard to critique the self-taught multi-instrumentalist when he keeps putting out music that’s, well, great. Just listen to anything Tim has put out since the beginning of his career. He studies each form of music with unrelenting fervor, putting out curated works that reflects (among a score of others) Appalachian culture, Cajun culture, and Irish culture. Tim’s a historian trapped in a very talented musician’s body. His instrumental and vocal skills coupled with era authenticity are pure music that has no peels to hide behind. It pleases everyone because he commutes with the sound instead of bending it to his will like some third rate lion tamer.

Now comes his latest bumper yield, the just released “Two Journeys,” a sort of a sequel to his 1998 release, “The Crossing.” The former album (dedicated to the late great Charles Sawtelle) was a historical mesh between Irish and American music, and what he described as “going the other direction and seeing where you’re from.”

“The Crossing” was essentially Tim researching his genealogy chart and putting his results on a record. He traced his roots to County Cavan, Ireland, a bountiful source of the music that made its immigrant way across the sea and into Appalachian culture.

O’Brien first traveled to Ireland in 1976, but his interest in the Emerald Isle didn’t consume him until 1993. That year he became infatuated with the life of his great grandfather who had immigrated to America in 1851. His curiosity became (as he told Holly Kintz) a “dam filling up that overflowed at one point” and he vowed to return to Ireland each year afterwards.

“I’m always looking for the door behind the thing that I’m listening to,” he once told The Smoky Mountain News. “Nowadays, the history of music is one thing, but history in general is fascinating. Music is an art form, a reflection of people’s lives. If you’re listening to traditional music, or singing an old ballad, a lot of times you’re acting the part of a person in Elizabethean times. I’m interested in where we come from. You start reading the history of Ireland, then you need to read the history of England, then you got to read the history of the Vikings, the French, the Roman Empire ... it never ends.”

His “hired excavators” for the “Crossing” were a virtual “who’s who” of Irish musicians, and his spanking new “Two Journeys” relies on more of the same plundering. Periodic trips to Ireland helped enlist some of the best Celtic players on the planet, including fiddler Kevin Burke (The Bothy Band, Patrick Street); accordion, flute and piano player John Williams (Solas); and vocalist Karan Casey (Solas), whose voice makes a heart do cartwheels. Old buddy Darrell Scott is back, along with Appalachian heritage holders like multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell.

The only difference between the two albums is that “Two Voyages” doesn’t stray too far from the Irish coast like the transatlantic “Crossing” did. The congregation of accordions, bouzoukis, fiddles, haunted vocals, mandolins, and percussion all stay on the eastern mainland. The collective sound beckons an era of Celtic demons, holy wells, George Custer plagiarisms (more on that later), and even the Irish roots of Lennon and McCartney. Strums of elegance are tamed by stories of roughness and there is celebration as well as melancholy. The history of Ireland courses through the listeners’ ears and allows us to (partly) understand a culture without the aid of a ten-ton history book.

Liner notes accompany each song and give the listener an intimate view into the innards of each tune. “Turning Around” (an O’Brien original) is an appropriate opener and is a dedication to the tweaker of bluegrass music, the late great John Hartford. Tim saw Hartford’s last performance in Dripping Springs, Texas. Nine weeks later, Tim was mixing this song and broke early to attend Hartford’s funeral.

“Framed as it was by John’s last days,” Tim wrote, “this production seemed to come together under his spell.”

The light taps of the djembe accompany the cadence of the “Irish orchestra” (i.e.mandolin, banjo, and accordion), lending a peaceful spirit to the opener. The lyrics are quite reminiscent of the giving spirit that Hartford was — “A gentle wind keeps on blowing,” Tim sings, “pray that it will always be/Turn it around, this old world, turn it around.”

“Mick Ryan’s Lament” steps back a century and a half to the days of Custer and his genocide squad. Tim brings back a traditional melody, “Garryowen” which Custer’s army used as their marching theme. Irish traditionals were a common member of “American” armies as they rampaged through the native’s homeland in search of the greener grass. “Garryowen” is upbeat and seems like it would have been out of place as its tune carried into Sitting Bull’s territory. It’s also probably the last song Mr. Custer heard before his demise at Little Big Horn. Unpleasant as the background is on this song, “Garryowen” is a testament to O’Brien’s insistence on keeping the “antiques” looking new.

Instrumentals run rampant on this recording and the sounds will make the listener swear they’re downing a heavy Guinness in an elbow-connected pub. O’Brien original, “The Apple Press/The Apple Cart” is a channeling of the traditional Irish sound. These tunes were written outside a chicken coop in Fremontel, Normandy during Tim’s tenure with Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. Outside the coop was an old apple press, and “with fiddle in hand” Tim sat beside it and “let the music come.” As steeped as he is in Appalachia, it’s almost uncanny how well his Irish roots have fleshed out into his fingers and voice.

Karan Casay’s vocals make the soul beg for forgiveness on “Demon Lover.” She melds perfectly into Tim’s vocals and is another in a long list of women performers who adheres to O’Brien’s musicianship. This is perhaps the most haunting of all the songs of the album, and it is drenched in intense melancholy. Yet there is a beauty in this tale of a man trapped by the devil. It is also one of the oldest songs on the album, dating back to 1657 (from collector James Francis Child).

The title track, “Two Journeys” (Deux Voyages) comes from a song Dirk Powell and Christine Balfa (Dirk’s wife, daughter of the Zydeco king, Dewey Balfa, and leader of the Cajun band, Balfa Toujours) wrote in Cajun French. It is also the theme for the whole album — “It tells the story of the Cajun migration and then goes back across the ocean to see where our ancestors came from,” Tim told SMN. “It’s a commentary on Christina’s experience with her Balfa heritage and me with my Irish heritage.”

The star of this song is Courtney Granger, Christine’s cousin and great nephew of Dewey. Only 18 at the time of the recording, Granger’s singing range is years ahead of his youthful state. The phantom of Dewey Balfa is flourishing in Courtney and his career should ascend with every step to the mic. This tune is also a ranking member of the haunting category, and will saturate in the ear canal for hours on end. “Deux Voyages” is a truly beautiful and charismatic song-tale.

The final song, “Norwegian Wood (The Bird Has Flown)” is a John Lennon and Paul McCartney original and shows the Beatle’s penchant for the Irish culture that was embedded in their native Liverpool. George Harrison’s sitar is replaced by whistle, fiddle, and pipe, but the intensity remains on even keel with the original. Pay special attention to Darrell Scott’s background work on the guitar, it’s special stuff.

Forget looking for that elusive Leprechaun. At the end of the rainbow is “Two Journeys,” an album with so many riches that it’s hard to loot just one, or 10. My advice is to be extremely greedy and sack the whole lot. It’s OK; don’t worry about selfish intentions. Tim O’Brien has a way of filling that pot o’ gold back up.

 

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