It's going to be a bit of a crazy day today beginning in about an hour. Kelly and I are going for breakfast at the Halibut House in Niagara Falls after a quick trip to Costco and afterwards I might do something really stupid like jumping in the lake.
But for the moment, all is quiet. Everyone, including the cats, are still asleep and I'm taking advantage to get some quiet writing time at the keyboard with this My Own House record by David Bromberg.
Also, Kelly won't have to listen to it being the David Bromberg hater she is.
But seriously, how awesome is 'ol David there, sitting in his rocker with his two dogs. You see? That shit right there was Americana before Americana was even Americana ... dig? In fact, Bromberg defines the genre. And this album is a perfect example of it: bluegrass, blues, folk, and jazz.
I fucking love it.
The second side is from a live concert where he performs with a horn section.
And that's pretty fucking sweet too, albeit not terribly surprising as Bromberg's albums are typically mishmashes of live and studio material that jump from bluegrass to blues to soul to roots rock and all stops inbetween. To their detriment, they usually contain a medley or two, but to their credit they usually feature one or two knockout tracks where Bromberg is totally "on" and when Bromberg is "on," whether in live performance or on record, he's as good as anyone (in this case, the knockout track is his tender reading of Paul Siebel's Spanish Johnny.). Not only is Bromberg an incredibly gifted and versatile musician, he's an extraordinary singer, though not in the conventional sense. The All Music Guide describes his singing style as "adenoidal," and I'll go along with that, but the thing that makes Bromberg such an engaging vocalist is his natural gift for acting, for embodying the role that he is playing. Anyone who has seen Bromberg live in concert knows that there are moments when he has you transfixed, hanging onto every word he says, whether you're laughing in hysterics or doubling over from the unexpected gut punch he has just thrown at you.
Good start to a crazy day.
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