David Rawlings | ||
| Allmusic Biography : David Rawlings is a guitarist, songwriter, producer, and singer -- mostly in that order -- who plies his trade on a 1935 Epiphone Olympic, for which hes gained a devoted following for getting more action out of the small arch top guitar than most guitarists get out of modern electrics. Rawlings first came to prominence in 1996 with the release of musical partner Gillian Welchs debut album, Revival. He and Welch met while studying together at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Together they crafted an old-timey blend of country, folk, and blues, built around Rawlings exceptional guitar picking and Welchs haunting vocals. In 1998, Rawlings and Welch teamed up again on Hell Among the Yearlings which, like their first effort, was produced by T-Bone Burnett. In 2000, Rawlings and Welch joined Ryan Adams on the latters solo debut, Heartbreaker. The album opens with an argument between Rawlings and Adams concerning a Morrissey song and is followed by the lively "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)," which Adams and Rawlings wrote together. The two also co-wrote "Touch, Feel & Lose," which appears on Adams 2001 follow-up album, Gold. That same year saw Rawlings make his first foray into producing. He replaced Burnett as producer for his and Welchs third album, Time (The Revelator) and produced their fourth, 2003s Soul Journey, as well. In 2004, he produced Old Crow Medicine Shows commercial debut O.C.M.S., and contributed his guitar work to the albums finale "Wagon Wheel." He even toured with the band to help promote the album in guitar and banjo player Critter Fuquas absence. Two years later, Rawlings produced the bands follow-up, Big Iron World, sharing writing credits on nearly half of the albums songs. In 2007, he contributed to the Bright Eyes album Cassadaga, and the following year, he continued his relationship with Old Crow Medicine Show, co-writing "Methamphetamine" with Ketch Secor. Rawlings and Welch began playing live shows with various musician friends in 2006 under the moniker the David Rawlings Machine, featuring Rawlings as frontman for the first time. That experiment led to the 2009 debut under that moniker of A Friend of a Friend, released on his and Welchs Acony Records label. Over the next six years, he and Welch toured but didnt record, though he worked on albums by Damien Rice and Willie Watson. In 2015, the David Rawlings Machine re-emerged with the seven-track mini-album Nashville Obsolete. Two years later the guitarist and Welch took a crack studio band that included Watson, Paul Kowert, Brittany Haas, Ketch Secor, and Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes into Nashvilles Woodland Studio. Recording on analog tape, the week-long sessions were engineered by Ken Scott and Matt Andrews, and netted the ten-cut Poor Davids Almanack, released by Acony in August and immediately followed by a tour with the David Rawlings Machine. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 1 Title: Poor Davids Almanack Released: 2017-08-11 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Midnight Train (03:18) 2 Money Is the Meat in the Coconut (02:23) 3 Cumberland Gap (02:55) 4 Airplane (04:44) 5 Lindsey Button (05:03) 6 Come on Over My House (03:42) 7 Guitar Man (03:30) 8 Yup (04:33) 9 Good God a Woman (03:31) 10 Put em Up Solid (04:33) |
| Poor David's Almanack : Allmusic album Review : Poor Davids Almanack marks David Rawlings fourth headline date, and he leaves his Machines out of the studio. That said, his singing and songwriting partner Gillian Welch is here as always on harmony vocals and percussion. She also co-wrote five of these ten songs. Its difficult to discern how the pair divide the creative labor and its accreditation, but it must make sense to them. Produced by Rawlings and engineered by Ken Scott (David Bowie) and Matt Andrews, these tunes are arranged to reflect not only Rawlings considerable gifts as a guitarist, but the fleshed-out sound of a full band that easily balances American folk music and roots rock (the DRM will be playing these songs on the road). Other contributors include fiddler Brittany Haas, Willie Watson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dawes, and Punch Brothers bassist Paul Kowert. Opener "Midnight Train" hovers between country gospel and country blues. Its the first instance we hear the gorgeous entwining of Welchs and Watsons voices in harmony supporting Rawlings slippery drawl. Haas fiddle and Rawlings lead guitar share breakdown space in front of Watsons banjo in the hokum blues "Money Is the Meat in the Coconut," a seemingly simple allegory that barely disguises the lusty overtones in its lyrics. "Cumberland Gap" is framed in stark, minor-key folk-rock with a popping bassline, and wound-out electric guitars and drums; it owes a deep debt to Neil Young. The highlight here is "Airplane," a tender yet passionate country-soul tune that employs a string section framing the lovely harmony singing and Haas solo. It features the most passionate lead vocal Rawlings has ever delivered. "Guitar Man" is another rocker; it could have come right from the Bands fakebook and briefly references "The Weight." At five minutes, "Lindsay Button," sung with the refrain placed after every line, is the sets longest track and it feels like it. "Yup" and "Good God a Woman," come from the same humorous terrain that "Money Is the Meat in the Coconut" does, and like it, they offer something lyrically darker underneath all that sprightly playing and singing. "Put Em Up Solid" is a tender meld of country-gospel and folk. The harmonies frame Rawlings vocal in a basket of sweetness and light as sweeping fiddle, strummed guitars, and banjo cover the backdrop. Its very difficult to argue with what Rawlings and company have assembled here. Aside from one misstep (that, to be fair, others might find less wearying), its every bit as good as Nashville Obsolete. | ||