The Chicago Sessions

アメリカン・ミュージック・シーンで40年以上に亘って活躍し続け、元義父であるJOHNNY CASHやNORA JONESにもカヴァーされるグラミー賞受賞シンガー・ソングライターRODNEY CROWELL。WILCOのJEFF TWEEDYプロデュースによる2023年作がCD / LPリリース!
1978年に発表したデビュー作『AIN'T LIVING LONG LIKE THIS』を彷彿させるジャケットも秀逸で、ご本人も「このアルバムは、いろいろな意味で、私にとって初めてのレコードに感じられる。とてもシンプルで無邪気、僕とバンドがリラックスして演奏を楽しんでいるんだ。」との事。肝心の内容も、初期作品を彷彿させつつも決してノスタルジーに陥っておらず、生々しいギター、ホンキートンク調のピアノ、タイトでパンチの効いたドラムが奏でるバンド・サウンドが秀逸です。世代を超えた見事なコラボレーションは、新鮮さと親しみやすさを同時に感じさせます。

In 2020, Rodney Crowell was booked to appear on the Cayamo Cruise, an upscale roots music festival at sea, and he happened to meet Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, another performer on the cruise. A conversation confirmed the pair were a mutual admiration society, and Tweedy suggested Crowell should come to Chicago sometime and do some recording at the Loft, Wilcos Windy City rehearsal space and private studio. Crowell took him up on the offer and the result was 2023s The Chicago Sessions. With Tweedy as producer working on his own turf, some might wonder if he would try to impose his twangy but skewed indie rock sensibility on Crowell and his songs, and while that might have been an interesting mix, that was not at all the case. Instead, Tweedy -- smart enough to know Crowell is a great songwriter who has been making fine records for decades -- let the artist follow his lead, and the result is a gem, one of Crowells most purely enjoyable albums, capturing him in excellent form as a writer and a performer. The Chicago Sessions sounds loose without being the least bit sloppy; Crowell and his musicians deliver performances that are relaxed but confident, documenting the intimacy of a band connecting in the moment, and its effective and powerfully satisfying. Tom Schicks engineering is excellent, catching the organic sound of a band playing together in a good-sounding room, and you can feel the way the guitars and drums fill the space around them. The band features three players Crowell brought with him from Texas (guitarist Jedd Hughes, keyboardist Catherine Marx, and bassist Zachariah Hickman), two Chicago-based drummers (John Perrine and Jeffs son Spencer Tweedy), and Tweedy pitching in on guitar, banjo, and a guest vocal on "Everything at Once." Its a genuine pleasure to hear these musicians interact, never forcing one anothers hand but consistently bringing out the best in each other. And its an established fact Crowell is one of the best songwriters in roots music. Whether hes sounding loose and lively on "Lucky" and "Somebody Loves You," pondering the mysteries of romance in "Making Lovers Out of Friends" and "Youre Supposed to Be Feeling Good," or making sense of lifes complexities in "Ready to Move On," he sounds wise while knowing how much he doesnt know, and his voice gets his stories across beautifully, hitting the sweet spot between artfulness and plainspoken honesty. The cover of Townes Van Zandts "No Place to Fall" is superb, the work of one songwriter recognizing and celebrating the brilliance of a master of the form. The Chicago Sessions is a splendid example of Rodney Crowell doing what he does best, with some help from a guy who knows how to get him to play to his strengths; its Crowell at his smart and soulful best. ~ Mark Deming