© Adam Granger
CD REVIEW: TRAVELLER, BY IVORY BRIDGE
by Adam Granger, August 24, 2014
First off, my usual disclaimer: the people in this band are friends of mine. But don't worry about dissimulation: I only write the truth.
Ivory Bridge is a really cool name for a band. It's not cute, it's easy to say and to spell, and it implies veneration befitting a group whose members have racked up 200 years of musicianship among them: Bassist/vocalist Kathe Liners and guitar-playing hubby Bill formed IB 28 years ago; Jim Tordoff is banjoist; and John Bodle, the pup of the group, plays mandolin. This quartet is joined by guest fiddler Peter Ostroushko on their new CD.
Traveller carries three tunes and nine songs, seven of which were penned by Kathe. These are not songs one would hear Ralph Stanley singing. Right out of the chute, in What If What You Want, Liners employs a fetching existentialism when she sings, “I have always tried to give you what you want from me; But what if what you want isn't what I need?” Pig in a Pen this ain't. Ms Liners may or may not be “a girl my lord in a flatbed Ford,” but she's not slowing down to take a look at anyone, so hold on. These are a thinking person's songs, written from a thinking woman's point of view and one has to pay attention or risk getting bounced off the back of the truck.
Bill and Kathe is a Bodle-composed instrumental encomium to the Liners's, into which all of the band's soloists throw their bright shiny two bits. John is the band's Future of Bluegrass representative who plays too many instruments too well; although he's mainly mandolinist in Ivory Bridge, he's also an award-winning flatpick guitarist. And while we're on the topic, it should be noted that Mr Liners is a fabulous picker who has won a few contests himself, and sits next to Bill Cagley and me in the judge's chamber at the Minnesota State Flatpick Contest.
The next two songs are tales of adventure and exploration. First, Fortune describes a Klondike Kate-type character who is in far greater charge than the men surrounding her, and then the singer of Jaded hits the road, where “The signs tell me where I'm going; Some tell me where I've been.” These are songs of empowerment and—for better or worse—self-determination.
Darkness Hollow is the first of several spiritual offerings. I'm not a religious man, but I've been in bluegrass for fifty years, and I understand and respect that religiosity is a bulwark of the genre. Darkness Hollow, then, is a potent cautionary tale, admonishing the listener not to “drink what you can't swallow.” Great advice, whatever your faith. Later, Kathe's Not a Man of Stature tells the story of Jesus with a passion that lets one know that she believes with all her heart and soul.
Handsome Molly is the first traditional number on Traveller. This 87-year-old Grayson-Whitter composition is a great song with some bad geography in it: the singer wishes he “was in London, or some other seaport town,” but London is not a seaport town. Oh well. Ivory Bridge does not correct this, either in homage to tradition or because it would mess up the lyrical cadence to say, “I wish I was in London, or some other town on the River Thames. . .” Good call, folks: one doesn't want to come off too snooty when singing a Grayson-Whitter song.
Next is Cattle in the Cane, a traditional southern tune called to order and chaired by Tordoff. One gets a generous serving of Jim's banjo style here, which is a skillful repudiation of the traditional brittle, tight-head, picks-close-to-the-bridge bluegrass banjo approach favored by 99.9% of practitioners. Jim plays a pre-war perforated (“40-hole”) tone-ring Gibson Mastertone banjo with a skin head, and picks a fair distance from the bridge—all in all a very unusual setup for bluegrass banjo, but one that a player of Tordoff's credentials, gravitas and talent pulls off with equipoise and aplomb.
You Can't Be Serious is my favorite cut on Traveller. Viewing the title as an idiomatic phrase, I expected, at-best, a clever hook song along the lines of I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing, or some such. Imagine my delight, then, in hearing a truly beautiful presentation of a truly beautiful song. “You can't be serious; you can't be so unkind. If I can't be your true love, then I'll leave love behind, just watching the world unwind.”
Safe Harbor surprises again. I expected a gospel tune, and was instead offered a jazzy love song. Snappy, confident and catchy, this song gives everyone a chance to stretch and swing.
The album concludes with a strong quartet reading of the old gospel fave Three Men on a Mountain and the dandy, eponymous Tordoff composition, Traveller.
And what a pleasure to hear Mr Ostroushko playing bluegrass. In case anyone—including him!—had forgotten about his abilities in this genre, given the galaxy of his other musical endeavors, his long- and shortbow bluegrass fiddling shine from beginning to end. I just returned from two weeks with Mr O on the Prairie Home Companion Baltic cruise, and had to remind myself constantly that the beautiful, cerebral, hypercreative music I was listening to him play with Dean Magraw (another monster: don't get me started) came from the same guy who kicks the stuffing out of the cuts on Traveller. That's versatility, folks. And he told me that his original takes were better, but that they disappeared and he had to redo them. Better? Scary.
This was an easy review to write. All good stuff, deftly recorded, mixed and mastered by Steve Kaul at Minneapolis's Wild Sound Studio, and nothing to tiptoe around or sugarcoat. Ivory Bridge walked the righteous road in recording Traveller, and you won't go wrong spending your cash on it. End of discussion.
by Adam Granger, August 24, 2014
First off, my usual disclaimer: the people in this band are friends of mine. But don't worry about dissimulation: I only write the truth.
Ivory Bridge is a really cool name for a band. It's not cute, it's easy to say and to spell, and it implies veneration befitting a group whose members have racked up 200 years of musicianship among them: Bassist/vocalist Kathe Liners and guitar-playing hubby Bill formed IB 28 years ago; Jim Tordoff is banjoist; and John Bodle, the pup of the group, plays mandolin. This quartet is joined by guest fiddler Peter Ostroushko on their new CD.
Traveller carries three tunes and nine songs, seven of which were penned by Kathe. These are not songs one would hear Ralph Stanley singing. Right out of the chute, in What If What You Want, Liners employs a fetching existentialism when she sings, “I have always tried to give you what you want from me; But what if what you want isn't what I need?” Pig in a Pen this ain't. Ms Liners may or may not be “a girl my lord in a flatbed Ford,” but she's not slowing down to take a look at anyone, so hold on. These are a thinking person's songs, written from a thinking woman's point of view and one has to pay attention or risk getting bounced off the back of the truck.
Bill and Kathe is a Bodle-composed instrumental encomium to the Liners's, into which all of the band's soloists throw their bright shiny two bits. John is the band's Future of Bluegrass representative who plays too many instruments too well; although he's mainly mandolinist in Ivory Bridge, he's also an award-winning flatpick guitarist. And while we're on the topic, it should be noted that Mr Liners is a fabulous picker who has won a few contests himself, and sits next to Bill Cagley and me in the judge's chamber at the Minnesota State Flatpick Contest.
The next two songs are tales of adventure and exploration. First, Fortune describes a Klondike Kate-type character who is in far greater charge than the men surrounding her, and then the singer of Jaded hits the road, where “The signs tell me where I'm going; Some tell me where I've been.” These are songs of empowerment and—for better or worse—self-determination.
Darkness Hollow is the first of several spiritual offerings. I'm not a religious man, but I've been in bluegrass for fifty years, and I understand and respect that religiosity is a bulwark of the genre. Darkness Hollow, then, is a potent cautionary tale, admonishing the listener not to “drink what you can't swallow.” Great advice, whatever your faith. Later, Kathe's Not a Man of Stature tells the story of Jesus with a passion that lets one know that she believes with all her heart and soul.
Handsome Molly is the first traditional number on Traveller. This 87-year-old Grayson-Whitter composition is a great song with some bad geography in it: the singer wishes he “was in London, or some other seaport town,” but London is not a seaport town. Oh well. Ivory Bridge does not correct this, either in homage to tradition or because it would mess up the lyrical cadence to say, “I wish I was in London, or some other town on the River Thames. . .” Good call, folks: one doesn't want to come off too snooty when singing a Grayson-Whitter song.
Next is Cattle in the Cane, a traditional southern tune called to order and chaired by Tordoff. One gets a generous serving of Jim's banjo style here, which is a skillful repudiation of the traditional brittle, tight-head, picks-close-to-the-bridge bluegrass banjo approach favored by 99.9% of practitioners. Jim plays a pre-war perforated (“40-hole”) tone-ring Gibson Mastertone banjo with a skin head, and picks a fair distance from the bridge—all in all a very unusual setup for bluegrass banjo, but one that a player of Tordoff's credentials, gravitas and talent pulls off with equipoise and aplomb.
You Can't Be Serious is my favorite cut on Traveller. Viewing the title as an idiomatic phrase, I expected, at-best, a clever hook song along the lines of I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing, or some such. Imagine my delight, then, in hearing a truly beautiful presentation of a truly beautiful song. “You can't be serious; you can't be so unkind. If I can't be your true love, then I'll leave love behind, just watching the world unwind.”
Safe Harbor surprises again. I expected a gospel tune, and was instead offered a jazzy love song. Snappy, confident and catchy, this song gives everyone a chance to stretch and swing.
The album concludes with a strong quartet reading of the old gospel fave Three Men on a Mountain and the dandy, eponymous Tordoff composition, Traveller.
And what a pleasure to hear Mr Ostroushko playing bluegrass. In case anyone—including him!—had forgotten about his abilities in this genre, given the galaxy of his other musical endeavors, his long- and shortbow bluegrass fiddling shine from beginning to end. I just returned from two weeks with Mr O on the Prairie Home Companion Baltic cruise, and had to remind myself constantly that the beautiful, cerebral, hypercreative music I was listening to him play with Dean Magraw (another monster: don't get me started) came from the same guy who kicks the stuffing out of the cuts on Traveller. That's versatility, folks. And he told me that his original takes were better, but that they disappeared and he had to redo them. Better? Scary.
This was an easy review to write. All good stuff, deftly recorded, mixed and mastered by Steve Kaul at Minneapolis's Wild Sound Studio, and nothing to tiptoe around or sugarcoat. Ivory Bridge walked the righteous road in recording Traveller, and you won't go wrong spending your cash on it. End of discussion.
