Leftover Salmon The Nashville Sessions Hollywood Records by Scott Snidow

What I am serving up for your auditory pleasure today is a red-hot platter of Leftover Salmon. What is this, you ask?! Another variety of Phish? Hell no. Leftover Salmon are perhaps the best practitioners of roots/world music that you have ever set your ears to. The release of the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" and the subsequent soundtrack has heightened the public awareness of American roots music, especially the bluegrass and folk blues varieties. Odd how a few trendy actors cast in a Hollywood interpretation of Homer's "The Odyssey" set in Depression Era Mississippi can do that to folks. Many writers have heralded sales of the soundtrack as proof of "the return of roots music." Where has it been? Was it lost somewhere? This much-praised "return" must surely come as a shock to the members of Leftover Salmon and their legions of faithful followers. Neither Leftover Salmon nor the album "The Nashville Sessions" are anything new. The band hails from Colorado, where, I am told, roots music and festivals celebrating it are alive and well. They have been crafting their brand of roots music, which they call Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass, for well over a decade. It just seems a fitting time with all of this hullabaloo about the "return" of this genre to introduce or, as the case may be, reintroduce listeners to "The Nashville Sessions," which may well be one of the best examples of roots/world blending that you have ever encountered. First released in 1999, "The Nashville Sessions" received an abundance of critical acclaim for its groundbreaking approach to roots music. It is one of the finest collections not only of songs, but also of musicians ever gathered on one band's record. Leftover Salmon, which in this incarnation consisted of Mark Vann (banjo, dobro), Vince Herman (vocals, acoustic and National guitars), Drew Emmit (vocals, mandolin), Tye North (bass), and Jeff Sipe (percussion) are joined by a group of musicians whose backgrounds are as varied as the music contained on the album. Consider this partial list: Jeff Coffin, Bela Fleck (both of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), Todd Park Mohr (Big Head Todd and the Monsters), John Popper (Blues Traveler), Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Waylon Jennings, Jo-El Sonnier, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal, Sam Bush, Del and Ronnie McCoury, Earl and Randy Scruggs, John Cowan, and Reese Wynans (Double Trouble). The magic that exudes from this album is not merely the result of gathering together this stellar collection of guest artists. After all, anyone with enough money or charisma could pull that off. The true magic that is captured on "The Nashville Sessions" is the result of finely crafted songs and performances, wherein these guests are only an isolated, yet integral piece. In short, Leftover Salmon has a grasp of how to use all of the tools that are at their disposal. The thing that struck me first in listening to "The Nashville Sessions" was the fact that this record seemed more like a finely balanced radio program or tasteful sampler rather than a solitary album by one artist. On most records the sound of the artist is homogenous, where the only thing that changes are tempos, lyrics and so on. You can always tell, though, that it is that same artist that you are listening to. Not so with "The Nashville Sessions." Here, Leftover Salmon has concocted a tour de force of roots and world beats, and aligned them in such a manner that the listener, like the music itself, flows fluidly and effortlessly from one style of music to another. Consider the opening five tracks of the CD; bluegrass that flows into roots blues into Caribbean into country and back into bluegrass. Experimental? Yes. Does it work? Better than you can imagine. Another idea that Leftover Salmon employed on this collection was using the writer of the song they were covering on that track. At first this struck me as simply a novel idea, nothing earth shattering. As I listened closer however, to how they integrated Taj Mahal's voice and dobro on "Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes," Lucinda Williams' voice on the swamp rock cover of "Lines Around Your Eyes," and Waylon Jennings'duet with Vince Herman on "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way," it became apparent that there was something more to this than I had at first believed. Each of these tunes was like a masterpiece, and each musician and sound was as important to the whole as the key elements of color and brushstrokes are to the painting. Another intriguing element of this recording is the use of traditional bluegrass instruments in songs that are anything but bluegrass. Take for example the Caribbean flavored "Dance On Your Head." Throughout this track Bela Fleck provides a running banjo part that adds a dimension to this song that has to be heard to be believed. Again Fleck appears on the rockier "Up On The Hill Where We Do The Boogie," where he punctuates the electric guitars and Reese Wynan's Hammond B-3 with a solo on banjo. Chalk up another successful experiment to Leftover Salmon! I know that with all this talk of wonderfully eclectic experimental sounds, you are starting to wonder why I touted them as being unparalleled practitioners of roots music, especially bluegrass. Then listen to "Midnight Blues," which features the McCourys. Perhaps the haunting and beautiful "Nobody's Fault But Mine" will fill the bill for you. If not, then you have to look no further than "Five Alive" to hear what could quite possibly be one of the best bluegrass instrumentals recorded in recent years. But what can you expect from a song that features Earl Scruggs on banjo and his son Randy on guitar?! All in all, "The Nashville Sessions" is a musical treat that is sure to tempt even the most finicky of listeners. In the period since the recording of "The Nashville Sessions," Leftover Salmon has undergone a personnel change. Herman, Emmitt and Vann have been joined by Jose Martinez on drums, Greg Garrison on bass, and Bill McKay on Hammond organ, piano and vocals. In a recent interview with Herman, he described the changes as providing Leftover Salmon with "larger palette to work from." He points out that the new lineup has taken the band "more in a rock and roll direction" but he is quick to assure listeners that the "new band members are also great at playing bluegrass, so there are a lot more musical places we can now go." To keep up with Leftover Salmon, surf on over to www.leftoversalmon.com, where you can view a website almost as entertaining as the band it represents.   You can contact Scott Snidow at: scott-at-rockzilla.net

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