Tim O’Brien Band cover

Tim O’Brien Band

Tim O’Brien

Album · 2019 · Howdy Skies HOW-CD 2019

Tim O’Brien Band came out on 15 March 2019 on O’Brien’s own Howdy Skies label and entered Billboard’s Bluegrass Albums chart at number 2. It was recorded at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville by the group O’Brien had been touring with: Mike Bub on bass, Shad Cobb on fiddle, Jan Fabricius on mandolin and vocals, and Patrick Sauber on banjo and guitar. O’Brien sings lead on most of the songs and plays guitar and mandolin, with fiddle on the two reels and cittern on “Wind.” Bryan Sutton, O’Brien’s bandmate in Hot Rize, is the only guest, adding guitar to “My Love Lies in the Ground” and the instrumental “La Gringa Renee.”

Five of the songs are originals. O’Brien wrote two on his own, and the rest came out of collaborations: “Beyond” with Shawn Camp, “Amazing Love” with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and “The Other Woman” with Fabricius. “La Gringa Renee” is a mandolin piece written for Fabricius. The rest of the program is borrowed: “Diggin’ My Potatoes,” which O’Brien learned from Big Bill Broonzy; Norman Blake’s “Last Train from Poor Valley”; Dirk Powell’s “My Love Lies in the Ground”; Hal Cannon’s “Wind”; the traditional “Doney Gal” and a pairing of the “Hop Down Reel” with Johnny Doherty’s reel; and Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty,” which O’Brien sings in a minor key. Of that last song he said, “Singing his words can’t hurt in these times.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Diggin' My Potatoes 4:20
  2. 2 Drunkard's Walk 3:02
  3. 3 Doney Gal 3:00
  4. 4 Hop Down Reel / Johnny Doherty's Reel 2:55
  5. 5 The Other Woman 2:59
  6. 6 Beyond 2:56
  7. 7 My Love Lies In the Ground 3:13
  8. 8 Pastures of Plenty alt version 3:44
  9. 9 Wind 3:34
  10. 10 La Gringa Renee 4:30
  11. 11 Amazing Love 2:56
  12. 12 Last Train From Poor Valley alt version 4:57
  13. 13 Crooked Road 3:23

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