Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – So Familiar (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 33:50 minutes | 671 MB | Genre: Country
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital Booklet | @ New Rounder Records
Martin & Brickell’s second studio album together after, “Love Has Come For You” in 2013. With Steve Martin on banjo and Edie Brickell on vocals, the duo really knows how to do Bluegrass right!
Produced by Peter Asher
Mixed and mastered by Nathaniel Kunkel
Steve Martin picked up his banjo again in 2009, recording his first-ever all-instrumental album with his Steep Canyon Rangers, and then he wound up devoting the better part of the next half decade to the instrument he loved since a teenager. Never shy on-stage, he nevertheless wasn’t a natural frontperson, so once he ran through two albums with the Rangers, he joined forces with Edie Brickell, an unexpected but natural fit. Bluegrass may not have been in Brickell’s vocabulary per se but she’s an old versatile folkie comfortable with an array of Americana, something proven out by her new millennial group the Gaddabouts. When Brickell teamed with Martin, they found a common folk-pop ground assisted by producer Peter Asher on 2013’s Love Has Come for You, and its 2015 sequel So Familiar is indeed a sequel: it offers more of the same, more of the tasteful dance numbers and romanticism heard on the first. This is hardly a bad thing. Martin and Brickell have an easy, natural chemistry, with Edie helping to focus Steve’s nimble, graceful playing while the banjoist returns the favor by loosening up the singer, so she doesn’t seem as precious as she sometimes did with the New Bohemians. While the duo sometimes sneaks a glance toward yesterday — “Another Round” rambles forward like a square dance and “Way Back in the Day” makes its nostalgia plain — this is unapologetically well-tailored contemporary music, drawing upon the traditions of Kentucky and Laurel Canyon to create something gentle, pretty, and substantive, something that is as enchanting as it was the first time around. –AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist:
1 So Familiar 2:46
2 Always Will 2:27
3 Way Back In The Day 3:18
4 Won’t Go Back 2:22
5 I’m By Your Side 2:37
6 I Had A Vision 3:57
7 I Have You 2:19
8 Another Round 2:24
9 Mine All Mine 2:09
10 Heart Of The Dreamer 3:12
11 My Baby 3:22
12 Heartbreaker 3:20
Personnel:
Edie Brickell – Vocals, Composer, Vocals (Background)
Steve Martin – Deering “Clawgrass” Banjo
Steve Aho – Banjo, Cajon, Clapping, Congas, Drums, Marimba, Percussion, Piano, Vibraphone, Vocals (Background)
Peter Asher – Clapping, Guitar (12 String Acoustic), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Resonator), Percussion, Producer, Ukulele, Vocals (Background)
Victoria Asher – Clapping, Vocals (Background)
Mike Ashworth – Percussion
Rob Berman – Accordion, Celeste, Fender Rhodes, Harmonium, Piano
Chris Bleth – Clarinet, Engineer, Penny Whistle
Edie Brickell – Composer, Primary Artist, Vocals (Background)
Mike Einziger – Guitar (Electric)
Béla Fleck – Baritone Banjo
Isaiah Gage, Vardan Gasparyan – Celli
Mike Guggino – Mandolin, Vocals (Background)
Charles Humphrey III – Double Bass
Abby Khalek, Koyo Kim, Rachel Kim – Violin
Nathaniel Kunkel – Banjo, Drum Engineering, Mastering, Mixing, Percussion, Percussion Engineer, Vocal Engineer
Doug Livingston – Pedal Steel Guitar
Woody Platt – Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals (Background)
Jeff Alan Ross – Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Baritone), Guitar (Electric), Hammond B3, Keyboards, Sax (Baritone), Wurlitzer
Nicky Sanders – Fiddle
Graham Sharp – Banjo, Vocals (Background)
Ann Marie Simpson – Orchestra Contractor, Orchestral & String Arrangements, String Conductor, Violin
Leland Sklar – Bass
Steep Canyon Rangers – Banjo
Cindy Wu – Violin
Geoff Zanelli – Orchestra Contractor, Orchestral & String Arrangements, String Conductor
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