I have vowed in 2009 to make Knoxville artists a larger part of the music I cover here at A Fifty Cent Lighter & A Whiskey Buzz. Luckily, Knoxville keeps giving me great new music and great new artists to write about. I have another new one for you today.About a month ago, I noticed that Dennis Double (co-host of WDVX's Writer's Block program) seemed to be pretty worked up about a new CD he had heard that week from a local songwriter named Van Eaton. He was passing out copies to everyone at the station (except me), and excitedly sharing the songs on Writer's Block. I'd hear Dennis talking to other people at the station about the copies he had given them and hear them give their enthusiastic reviews back.
A few weeks ago, I finally got a copy for myself and figured out what everyone else was so excited about. Blood on the Ground from Van Eaton & Friends is a solid Americana album that branches out from strong bluegrass roots to deliver a group of songs that bring a little polish to the traditional back porch picking session.
Speaking of pickers... I should probably mention that the "And Friends" who play on the album include Ronnie McCoury, Robbie McCoury, Jason Carter, and Alan Bartram of The Del McCoury Band. Eaton first crossed paths with the band when he wrote the title track to their 2003 album It's Just the Night, and was able to enlist their services for his debut effort. Even with such bluegrass luminaries on board... it's Eaton's songs that take center stage throughout.
On his myspace page, Eaton describes his music as, "Americana with a Gospel soul and a Bluegrass heart," and it's true that his songs do draw heavily from both southern music traditions. It's also important to note, however, that Blood on the Ground is not strictly a bluegrass album or strictly a gospel album. There's more going on here as well.
In "The Fire Room," the protagonist of the song finds solace in prayer, but he may be doing so for the wrong reasons. He lived his life with a stone cold heart, let the Devil control his idle hands, and fell to temptation at every turn. Now, at the end of his life (and the end of his rope), he turns to the Father he never counted on before for a last minute pardon. It's up to the listener to decide if the narrator has truly repented.
The album's title track tackles the subject of war with a brutal honesty not often found in bluegrass circles. This time, the narrator is a soldier who has lost friends and has blood on his own hands. He is charged with being a hero, but knows all too well the dangers his bravery exposes him to.
If you want to hear more from Van Eaton, then next week is the perfect time. Eaton will be the guest of Karen Reynolds and Dennis Double Wednesday night at 10:00 (Eastern) on The Writer's Block on WDVX. He'll also be playing the Blue Plate Special on WDVX next Friday at noon. Blood on the Ground will be released by Eyetune Records on March 7th.
Van Eaton & Friends: The Fire Room (Buy Album)
Van Eaton & Friends: Blood on the Ground (Buy Album)
9 comments:
Van is a true Entertainer. If you've never had the chance to see him play live, then you've been deprived of one of those items that should be included on your "bucket list."
I will be in Knoxville on March 7th for his cd release party at the Laurel Theater and can't wait to see him live again. If you like Rock and Roll, Country, Bluegrass, Blues, Gospel, etc... then you will love Van. If one could take a little of John Prine, Bruce Springsteen, Del McCoury, Hank Sr., and Elvis and mix them all together the results would be Van Eaton.
Blood On The Ground offers twelve songs that will indulge all of your musical senses. The CD also features “Given my reputation” which uses brutally honest lyrics to describe the relationship between man and an truly forgiving God. Van offers up music with lyrics to which we ALL can relate.
Blood On The Ground is a true Americana Album that should be included in everyone’s 2009 budget, however simply listening to the album without seeing Van and Friends live is likened to seeing the Oscar winning movie instead of reading the Best Selling Novel. Be sure to buy the CD, but GO SEE HIM LIVE!!!! YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED!!
at http://fiftycentlighter.blogspot.com/
Over the last century American roots music has never lost it's authenticity or appeal. This is because it connects to each of us in the way that we live, our joys, heartbreaks and aspirations. It does so without sounding phony or pretentious usually because it is written and performed by people who live the lives they sing about. The masters are well known from the Carter Family to Hank Williams to Townes Van Zandt, from Charley Patton to Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters. The spirit of the music has never died even when we occasionally lose track of it in the polished product the music industry churns out. We have to be reminded from time to time that authentic American music does not come from factories and the bottom line is life itself, not the glamour of fortune and fame.
This is why Van Eaton's music is so important. Like all the master songwriter-poets and musicians before him the music he makes is as real as life itself because for him music is life itself. You can hear it in every word, in every hard wrung note. The characters that fill the songs on BLOOD ON THE GROUND are people like ourselves. They are humbled by their failings and struggle for redemption in ever way known to them. They ride high during good times like the fellow in "All My Money's Gone" but wake up sober and alone, crying out for some reason to hope like the characters in "The Fire Room" or "Given My Reputation." They are devoted and loyal like the soldier in the title cut, but smart enough to recognize that for all the talk of heroism in the end we all have to face the reality that what remains of the hero is blood on the ground. And that blood cries out as surely as Abel's blood did after that first murder, for someone to answer - whether God or country or our brothers and sisters in spirit and blood.
Backed by the extraordinary Del McCoury band and a few other musicians of similar calibre, Eaton and friends bring these characters to life so vividly only the dead are unresponsive (and I wouldn't rule them out). The songs are a pleasure to listen to again and again. The music is full of interesting and unexpected twists on the time honored themes. Fiddles, banjos, and mandolins ring and sing while a double bass and Eaton's steady rhythm guitar anchor the tunes - for good measure a peddle steel and classic B3 organ deepen and enrich the tracks.
For those of us who have been listening to Van Eaton's music for years this is yet another chapter in a legacy of songs that can stand alongside any in American music. But Eaton has refined his skills so well over the years that they capture you immediately and leave a deep and lasting impression. These songs will ring in your ears from the first time you hear them and never fade. They are a rich and abiding gift by a master of the art. He has given us more songs from the great American story that will surely take their place alongside all those we have known and loved all our lives.
Don't let this music pass you by. To do so is to remain ignorant of the story we are all telling every day with one great difference. You can tap your feet, sing along, pick up an instrument and play along. Everyone is invited, no one is turned away. If Van Eaton is new to you then you are abut to discover one of the great treasures of roots based music, be it American or any other. Come listen to a master songwriter and his friends doing what they do best and making it sound as pure and refreshing as mountain spring water on a hot summer day. In a world in need of revival of spirit and hope this is great place to start - with music that you will never forget.