Phelps also brings out his banjo for a couple songs, most notably “Handful Of Arrows”, a fiery, Native American-driven tribute to the late Chris Whitley that’s a high point of the set. “Big Shaky” toggles wonderfully between country blues and improvisatory jazz, while “MacDougal” (one of three instrumentals on the album) is a sprightly ragtime homage to the late Dave Van Ronk. Tunesmith Retrofit A year and a half after his remarkable live album, Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind, Kelly Joe Phelps returns to the studio with his restless, searing, intimate vision and remarkable skills as both an instrumentalist and a songwriter. Copyright 2006 by Pilgrim's Way Publishing. Kelly Joe Phelps Tunesmith Retrotit CD 11661-3249-2. Occasionally Phelps reaches back to the adventurous spirit that shaped his early career. Lyrics from Crow's Nest by Kelly Joy Phelps from Tunesmith Retrofit. Tunesmith Retrofit Kelly Joe Phelps Keith Lowe Jesse Zubot Steve Dawson CD. Similar moments include “Spanish Hands”, which (despite its title) bears heavy Celtic traces “Plumb Line”, which straddles the border between Kottke and jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and “Red Light Nickel”, a straight-up folk song in the Gordon Lightfoot vein. “Crow’s Nest”, the opening track, sets the tone centered on Phelps’ rapid-fire but unobtrusive fingerpicking, splashes of fiddle, and craggily intimate vocals, it brings to mind the recent work of Richard Thompson. Tunesmith Retrofit is leaner and more spartan than 2003’s Slingshot Professionals, putting the light squarely on his songwriting. An exemplary fingerpicker in the Leo Kottke mold, Phelps also tempers his guitar prowess to serve the song. Eschewing the cloying introspection that tends to prevail among the coffeehouse crowd, Phelps writes snapshot vignettes borne from short-story traditions and delivers them in sturdy acoustic settings drawn from folk, free jazz, and country blues. But with his new album, ‘Tunesmith Retrofit,’ he is sure to be revered not just a great musician, but as an outstanding songwriter as well. His rhythm is true, his words are impure, his songs are nearly glorious. Few songwriters wear the mantle of troubadour as unassumingly as Kelly Joe Phelps. Tunesmith Retrofit is another side of Phelps to be sure, as a songwriter who understands the actual music of poetry and creates a loose, coarse weave that allows the listener room to inhabit and live inside his songs.
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