Orchids and Violence, released in 2016 on Nonesuch (553734-2), is Michael Daves's two-disc project — the same traditional Monroe and Stanley repertoire cut twice, first acoustic in a Brooklyn church and then re-cut raw and rock-electric at Daves's home studio. The acoustic disc tracks Daves's guitar and vocals against Brittany Haas on fiddle, Sarah Jarosz on mandolin, Noam Pikelny on banjo, and Mike Bub on bass, recorded live to tape in a nineteenth-century church. The electric disc is largely solo-overdubbed with Jessi Carter on bass and guest Tony Trischka on cello banjo; Vance Powell mixed both. The conceptual conceit — same songs, opposite settings — turned the record into a sustained argument about whether the songs or the arrangements carry the meaning in traditional bluegrass.
Tracklist
- 1 June Apple - Bluegrass 3:16
- 2 The Dirt That You Throw - Bluegrass 3:58
- 3 Darling Corey - Bluegrass 3:14
- 4 Elzic's Farewell - Bluegrass 3:11
- 5 A Good Year for the Roses - Bluegrass 5:21
- 6 Drunken Hiccups - Bluegrass 3:35
- 7 Stargazer - Bluegrass 4:41
- 8 Dark Angel - Bluegrass 3:16
- 9 The 28th of January - Bluegrass 4:44
- 10 I Only Exist alt version 4:32
- 11 Pretty Polly alt version 4:33
- 12 Train on the Island - Bluegrass 3:11
- 13 June Apple - Electric 4:58
- 14 The Dirt That You Throw - Electric 4:33
- 15 Darling Corey - Electric 4:04
- 16 Elzic's Farewell - Electric 3:00
- 17 A Good Year for the Roses - Electric 6:16
- 18 Drunken Hiccups - Electric 4:26
- 19 Stargazer - Electric 4:59
- 20 Dark Angel - Electric 3:50
- 21 The 28th of January - Electric 4:47
- 22 I Only Exist - Electric 3:34
- 23 Pretty Polly - Electric 4:47
- 24 Train on the Island - Electric 3:37
