Avalon is the first full-length album by guitarists Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge, released on 7 October 2014 on Modern Lore Records. Lage came from jazz and Eldridge from bluegrass: he was a member of Punch Brothers, helped found the Infamous Stringdusters, spent time with the Seldom Scene, and studied with Tony Rice. An EP of originals, Close to Picture, preceded it in 2013.
Kenneth Pattengale of the Milk Carton Kids, who urged the duo to make the record, produced and engineered it. Lage and Eldridge recorded it live over two days in April 2014 at the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland, with no playback and no overdubs. Lage plays a 1939 Martin 000-18 and Eldridge a 1937 Martin D-18.
Eleven tracks make up the program. Eldridge sings six of them, including Jimmie Rodgers’s “Any Old Time,” Norman Blake’s “Ginseng Sullivan,” the Gershwins’ “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and three songs associated with the Seldom Scene: “Mean Mother Blues,” “Keep Me from Blowing Away” and “Open Up the Window, Noah.” The instrumentals include Lage’s own “Stone Cross,” “Steady Proof,” “Butter and Eggs” and “Wilson’s Waltz,” along with the fiddle tune “Whiskey Before Breakfast.”
Tracklist
- 1 Stone Cross 3:34
- 2 Mean Mother Blues 3:44
- 3 Keep Me from Blowing Away 3:52
- 4 Whiskey Before Breakfast alt version 2:51
- 5 Open up the Window, Noah 3:02
- 6 Wilson’s Waltz 9:04
- 7 Someone to Watch Over Me 4:18
- 8 Ginseng Sullivan alt version 3:33
- 9 Steady Proof 3:00
- 10 Any Old Time alt version 3:42
- 11 Butter and Eggs Source Recording 3:24
