Carry Me Home
(independent)
The more things change, the more they don’t. Or don’t seem to. Or appear to change back. “When you hear music, after it’s over it’s gone, it’s in the air,” a voice states on DJ Spooky’s ambient offering Modern Mantra. “You can never capture it again.” But maybe you can.
From Los Angeles comes The Dustbowl Revival, a “roots jazz collective” whose latest recording, Carry Me Home, sounds like it could have been performed in Steinbeck’s southern California.
The term “Americana” gets thrown around a lot. But with four albums under its collective belt, Dustbowl Revival continues to seamlessly incorporate several traditional American genres, from gospel and early blues to bluegrass and New Orleans jazz, into their music.
Carry Me Home begins with a slow, dirge-like rendition of “Swing Low,” then continues with the French Quarter two-step of “John The Revelator” and the backporch banjo-driven “New River Train,” all of which are arrangements of traditional American tunes. In fact, half of the album’s 10 tracks are covers (the aforementioned three, plus the final track, a live recording of “Shine,” and “Soldier’s Joy,” possibly the album’s standout).
But far from being a mere re-interpreter with an overzealous 21st-century appreciation for music played 100 years ago (not that that would be a bad thing), Dustbowl Revival’s Z. Lupetin—who sings and plays acoustic guitar, tuba kazoo, harmonica, and autoharp—writes original songs that feel like they are traditional classics. Isn’t “Riverboat Queen” an old Josephine Baker standard that she used to do in Paris with Sidney Bechet? No, that’s Dustbowl’s Caitlin Doyle on lead vocals (and washboard and tambourine). And I’m absolutely positive I grew up hearing “Barnacle,” even though the album’s liner notes tell me it was copyrighted by Lupetin in 2012. Curious.
No matter. All of the songs—traditionals and originals alike—will likely sound just as good another hundred years from now. Tuba kazoos never go out of style. They just fade away for a time.•
Dustbowl Revival visits the Parlor Room at Signature Sounds in Northampton this Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. See parlorroommusic.com.
—Pete Redington