Published Mar 5, 2009
Van Eaton and Friends to spill a little 'Blood' at the Laurel
By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
When one of the pioneers of bluegrass music chooses your song as the title cut for his album, you might get the feeling that you're doing something right.
When that album goes on to be named Album of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association, you know it without a shadow of a doubt.
Cary Van Eaton still regards the selection of "It's Just the Night" as the title track to the 2003 album by the Del McCoury Band as an extremely fortuitous turn of events. His song, in the hands of McCoury and his sons, was transformed into a thing of beauty.
The thing is, that beauty is inherent in Van Eaton's songwriting. Dressed up in Del McCoury Band packaging might make it more flashy and more recognizable, but Van Eaton is a gifted artist in his own right. Saturday night at Knoxville's Laurel Theater, he'll take the gifts he was born with and the things he's learned over the years and present them in the form of his own CD, "Blood on the Ground."
"It's like having a family on a back porch on a Sunday afternoon, all of these family members who are real talented musicians," Van Eaton told The Daily Times this week. "There's no PA, no lights, no flash or marquee or concession stand. But sometimes on that porch, you'll hear the best music ever. There's a certain energy to it.
"The Laurel is an old Presbyterian church, and this is a spiritual album. That's the roots of the music, so I'm trying to keep that live energy in our show. We'll have some steel guitar here and there, but overall it's that live acoustic feel, and I think it'll have that same energy as that old back porch."
Growing up, Van Eaton was imprinted early on with a strong connection between spirituality and music. His father filled in as a preacher at an old church (he can't remember the exact denomination), and the music he saw and heard would, in later years, coin the description with which he brands his music today: "Americana with a gospel soul and a bluegrass heart." One song on the new record, "Hell to Pay," is born of memories Van Eaton has of a street preacher in Johnson City, who would stand in front of the pawnshops there and shout fire and brimstone to passersby.
"He really believed in what he was doing, and that's what that song is about -- if he came today, are you going to be ready to go up or down?" Van Eaton said. "Other songs are about how I feel, given my reputation -- that God loves us all."
He doesn't go into great detail about his past, pausing only to describe himself as a wild teen who spent a few nights on the wrong side of the law and dabbled in mind-altering substances. He's not embarrassed by it; he simply chooses to focus on where he's at today -- and that's the story of "Blood on the Ground."
To get the big picture, go back a few years to time Van Eaton spent in Nashville, working with such outfits as Nanci Griffith's Blue Moon Orchestra, Pat McInerney, Ron Della Vega and Clive Gregson. When a demo version of "It's Just the Night" was passed along to the Del McCoury Band, Van Eaton was very surprised that Del and the boys decided to record it.
It was a smashing success for the group, becoming the biggest-selling bluegrass album of that year. Fate, it seemed, was determined to pair Van Eaton and the McCourys together one more time -- when David Ferguson invited Van Eaton to record at the studio he owns with John Prine, McCoury happened to be there as well.
"Come to find out, Del was recording a boxed set of 50 years of McCoury music," Van Eaton said. "The guys asked me what I had, and I pulled out a list of songs. I told them that I didn't want to do a bluegrass album, because it would be like me doing karaoke of their songs."
The musicians assembled during those sessions -- Ronnie McCoury, Robbie McCoury and Jason Carter of the Del McCoury Band; Alan Bartram; Bobby Wood; Leroy Troy; Stu Bassore; Robert Richards -- worked out arrangements for Van Eaton's songs that combined a distinctive bluegrass backbone with traditional country, Old Time and rootsy soul reminiscent of the Muscle Shoals sound that Van Eaton counts as one of his influences.
But while the music is solid and soulful, it's the words that anchor them. The music never overwhelms Van Eaton's lyrics; instead, they put them in the spotlight and draw the listener into the messages of humility, pain, redemption and, ultimately, joy.
"I can't write a song for a million dollars unless I'm truly inspired by something personal or eventful," he said. "Along the way, the whole album took a spiritual turn, and that wasn't something that was planned -- it just happened. I tried to put something in that everybody can understand. I was real blessed to have the McCourys and Ferguson in the room with me at the same time and a notebook with some songs in it. I didn't know it would turn out so good -- we did five songs that first day, and I went home thinking we were done and that I had five good songs for a demo."
The next day, however, David Ferguson called him up and encouraged him to return to the studio to complete a full-length album. And when all was said and done, Van Eaton came out the other side not only with a phenomenal record but with a few tricks he learned from the McCourys that he now applies to his own career.
"I found out I'm more of a lyricist -- yes, I'm a three-chord guy, but my talent's not really in melodies," he said. "These guys can take any song, turn in a melody and say, 'Let's try this,' and within first or second try, they could turn something out. They're genuine people, and they give the best performance they can. Watching them play my songs, it was very surreal."
Saturday night, he'll call on his East Tennessee friends -- among them Jeff Tolson, Wade Hill, Milly Cavendar,¬ Brock Henderson, Robert Richards, Mike McGill, Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle. They bring the same level of energy and the same caliber of musicianship as those who worked with him in the studio, but there's a big difference -- they're all close friends, which makes the atmosphere that much more relaxed and comfortable.
"It's about friendship and about being yourself," McGill said. "We all have a real passion for the same kinds of things, and one thing's for sure -- we're hardly ever going to run out of things to talk about. It's like getting paid to fish -- why wouldn't you want to do it?"
Americana Music with great songwriting. jam band and blugrass fans love it, new music for everyone 8-80, anyone should love this music, it is americana music with a gospel soul and a bluegrass heart, produced by David 'fergie' Ferguson and Van Eaton.>
