Date Posted: May 24, 2011
Print Edition: May 13, 2011
By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
As the warmer months approach, we all make adjustments to our lives. Somehow, beef stews no longer seem appealing. Suddenly, sustenance comes in the form of fast, easy, and light meals, perhaps paired with a little liquefied and chilled hops. Inevitably, music tastes shift as well, we discard angry metal and experimental jazz and move on to something a little lighter and less serious. Sarah Jarosz’s Follow Me Down is a more grown-up alternative to whatever artist the Disney channel is currently hyping. While her first album was pure bluegrass, this new release celebrates these roots but becomes more accessible to those without muddy cowboy boots sitting on their porch step.
“Run Away,” the album’s opening track, is a great indicator for the feel of the rest of its songs. Aptly titled, it would be perfect for any road trip soundtrack. The driving melody is pure bluegrass; the lyrics and accompaniment make it something more modern. This is perhaps mostly owing to the string accompaniment: while most bluegrass songs use bowed strings purely in the fiddle spirit, the sounds here could easily belong to the most classically trained violinist. While it seems like an odd juxtaposition, it works within the confines of the song itself.
The sour note in the album is probably the song “My Muse.” The depressing air jars badly with the light tone that the rest of the songs embody. Its slow tempo and minor key imply a desire to depart from the up-tempo tone of the rest of the works, but it misses the mark badly by bypassing calm and heading straight to dull. The title and lyrics suggest that the choices here aim at a contemplative tone, but Jarosz would do better to stick to what she knows and leave the muses to the Greeks.
The second attempt at a laid-back tempo comes in the form of “The Tourist,” a reworking of an excellent Radiohead tune. This hits closer to the spirit of the album; a slight bluegrass influence injects some interest into a song that originally was just about the lyrics and rather sparse instrumentation. While the original version was successful and beautiful because of Radiohead’s inherent musicality, this version adds a little spice – an idle bit of conversation for a lazy summer’s day.
The happiest marriage between the bluegrass, uptempo style and what Jarosz seems to be attempting with the slower songs is the second to last track, “Gypsy.” Maybe it’s the climbing temperatures, but this song is basically the embodiment of all the feelings of a warm summer night. The instrumentation is pure bluegrass, but the melodies sound like a child’s lullaby. The lyrics suggest vagrancy and seem to work in counterpart to the album’s first track.
The album’s final track, “Peace,” is instrumental. It plays well off the lullaby tones in “Gypsy” and demonstrates the talent that earned Jarosz her Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the track “Mansinneedof,” on her previous album. “Peace” shows her skills through its plucky yet gentle mandolin melody, and flourishes from clawhammer banjo, guitar, and fiddle all combine to finish off what is, all in all, a great album. Bluegrass isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking to change things up with a lighter tone this summer, Follow Me Down is a great place to start.
