Grit and Polish is a 2021 duo album by Bryan McDowell and Mark Schatz released on Patuxent Records (CD-348), born when the pandemic shut down the touring the two former Claire Lynch Band members had planned together. They retreated to Schatz's basement studio in the Washington, D.C. area and recorded thirteen tracks mostly live with minimal overdubbing. McDowell (fiddle, guitar, mandolin, fretless banjo)—a national champion in both guitar and mandolin—and Schatz (upright bass, clawhammer banjo, jaw harp)—best known as a long-running partner to Tim O'Brien and Tony Trischka—blend old-time fiddle tunes, waltzes, a Louis Jordan boogie-woogie, and a Dylan ballad. Claire Lynch adds harmony vocals on "My East Tennessee Home." The album reached number one on the Folk DJ Charts.
Tracklist
- 1 Kensington Station 2:55
- 2 There Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens 2:53
- 3 Muskrat alt version 2:52
- 4 Gardenia Waltz / Flop Eared Mule 4:15
- 5 Cruso Flood 2:56
- 6 Papirosen / Maiden's Prayer 4:23
- 7 My East Tennessee Home 2:47
- 8 The Waltz You Saved for Me / Little Po' Gal / Acorn Hill Breakdown 4:24
- 9 The Girl I Love Don’t Pay Me No Mind alt version 3:17
- 10 One Too Many Mornings 2:33
- 11 Italy 2:28
- 12 West Virginia Reverie 3:59
- 13 First Snow of December / Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss 4:45