Gillian Welch

[jc]

Did T. Bone Burnett produce all their albums?

t bone did the first two, they did the next two themselves.

[thebeard]

I saw them back a few years, either '99 or 2000 in duluth with Ani Difranco and Greg Brown. They were definately the highlight of the show.

It was a really odd show for me though, the four of them came out and sat on the stage and took turns singing songs that related to a word one of them would say. 'course I've never really followed the folk scene much, this might be a common occurance.

I was mostly just there because my then girlfriend wanted to see Ani and I was familiar with Greg Brown. They were definately an unexpected delight.

Jesse

[soundofsingles]

T-Bone actually only produced the first two discs. Dave and Gillian produced Revelator and Soul Journey.
Relelator was recorded at RCA Studio B. Soul Journey was recorded at Studio B and at Woodland Sound in Nashville (which they own), as well as at least one track that was recorded at home on a portable tape recorder of some sort. There was a pretty good interview in No Depression last year.

The Revelator DVD has some nice footage of them recording in RCA Studio B which is pretty cool.

On Soul Journey I really think that they were going for a "Harvest" sorta vibe. So they moved from retro 30s to retro 70s.

[leigh]

I just stumbled across this pic, thought this'd be a good place to toss it:



It's from this page, which also makes an interesting point in reference to the Down From the Mountain (O Brother soundtrack) show:

"That a certain microphone should have an appropriate ?look? begs the question, who is the look appropriate to? Is there a presumption that the audience can identify the Neumann U47, and is familiar with its history? Or is the ?look? more important to the musicians behind the microphone. Either way, the deification of the U47 as ?appropriate? to music meant to evoke 1930s Great Depression America is an ?invented tradition? in that great line of invented traditions documented by Eric Hobsbawm, Robert Cantwell, Regina Bendix, and so many others; the Neumann company of Berlin, Germany only began manufacturing the U47 in 1947."

Leigh

[junkstar]

I have the Austin City Limits performance on DVD-R if anyone is into trading. Just drop me a note with your list. Their performance does have moments of brilliance.

[Corin]

The great thing about them is that, regardless of how authentic their backgrounds actually are, they've taken this Appalacian sound and moved it foward. It's one thing to buy the right gear and play dress up, and there'd be nothing wrong if they just did stuff form the old Folkways recordings or early Carter family stuff or whatever- it'd be fine if they just did revival stuff as well as they do, but to actually be an amazing songwriter on top of that is really something. What does a modern young woman from California who went to Berklee actually know about the American farmer during the dustbowl era? Apparantly a hell of a lot (more than can be gleaned from a book) if you listen to "Annabelle".

Plus, what amazing singers. They are the real deal.

[Flight Feathers]

cool new yorker interview

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040920fa_fact3

[junkstar]

Extremely well written. Thanks for the link.

[cfMC]

yeah that's a good new yorker article. after I read it I happened to catch Welch in SF at the 3rd annual free "hardly bluegrass" festival in godlen gate park--I had never actually heard them before, and they were fantastic, I'm a new fan. my other highlight of the festival was a Steve Earl acoustic set

[Spiderhead69]

I too saw teh Steve Earl acoustic set at Hardly Bluegrass, but missed Gillian as I was checking out Guy Clark...I thought EmmiLou was great that night...Even though it was cold...

[cfMC]

I too saw teh Steve Earl acoustic set at Hardly Bluegrass, but missed Gillian as I was checking out Guy Clark...I thought EmmiLou was great that night...Even though it was cold...

yeah it was cold but fun! here are some photos

http://cfmceroz.com/photos2/100304.html

[Flight Feathers]

I just stumbled across this pic, thought this'd be a good place to toss it:

to go with the pic, http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_gillian_welch/

man, that's how records should be made, minus the tourists.

[Poppatwang]

Check out the upright bass sound on "Flat Black Ford" from Revival.
That's the benchmark for me.

[Stephen Horsley]

i just saw them last night. that has to be the best gig i have ever been to. the guitar playing, the harmonies! wow!

[drewbass]

there is a great article in the new yorker about the two of them. say 3-4 issues ago, therefore 6-8 weeks. its like a day in the life, their early days, gillian's crazy family as a child, her time at berklee. the early gigs. motivations for songs. well written.
drew