Posts Tagged ‘ Black Twig Pickers ’

Nathan Bowles: March 26, 2016 Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular, King’s (Raleigh, NC)

May 5, 2016
By

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[photo courtesy of Eric PH]

Nathan Bowles has made in appearance in all kinds of bands connected to Three Lobed Recordings in one way or another, from Pelt to the Black Twig Pickers to Hiss Golden Messenger to Steve Gunn‘s band to his own fine work. And that’s not even solely as a banjo player, either; Bowles is an accomplished drummer, as his work with Gunn in particular has shown. As essential as he has been to the greater Three Lobed family, it was of course an honor to have him for the label’s sixteenth birthday party.

Originally slated to be a bit of a reprise of his 2014 duo performance with Daniel Bachman here at King’s in Raleigh, NC, this set ended up being a special kind of Bowles solo show, as he tried out some new material slated to appear on his forthcoming album on Paradise of Bachelors. The thirteen-minute “I Miss My Dog,” which Bowles recently performed at Pickathon, is as powerful a statement as he has made musically, and furthers the notion that his command of this instrument is not about some kind of “revival” but rather a true evolution. You have only to listen to the short and sweet “Burnt Ends Rag” that came after it to understand what a talent Bowles is, and why we’ll be so fortunate to see him in so many different settings in the years to come.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other recordings of the day, with a soundboard feed from engineer Justin Perrachon and a combination of onstage and audience mics. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Download the complete set: [MP3/FLAC]

Stream the set (minus banter tracks):

Nathan Bowles
2016-03-26
Three Lobed Sweet Sixteen Spectacular
King’s
Raleigh, NC USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

2x Soundboard channels (engineer: Justin Perrachon) + MBHO 603a/KA200N (FOB, DFC, PAS) + Schoeps MK22 (onstage, ORTF, DFC)>KC5>CMC6>Aeta PSP3 >> Zoom F8>6x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, mix down, compression)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Words Spoken Aloud
03 [tuning/banter]
04 I Miss My Dog
05 [banter2]
06 Burnt Ends Rag

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Nathan Bowles, visit his website, and buy Nansemond from Paradise of Bachelors.

Nathan Bowles: February 12, 2015 Union Pool and January 31, 2015 Silent Barn – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

February 22, 2015
By

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An canny, skilled and unpretentious kind of player, Nathan Bowles is nonetheless important not because of how he plays, but what he plays. There’s no shortage of banjo music circulating these days — the jam-band scene is filled with bands playing their own pabulum and covering the classic rock hits with the instrument, using it to deliver a little authenticity from the extra twang. Bowles’ career is the exact opposite of all of that — not only does he bring a new style and sound to Appalachian music, but he has an intrinsic knowledge of what a worthy song is, whatever its era.

First as a member of legendary Pelt, the multi-instrumentalist helped to make drone-based music that changed the conversation about what “folk” could be. With the Black Twig Pickers, he and his bandmates have gone deep into American history, both excavating and elevating lost and under-appreciated old-time music. Fitting, then, that his solo work, in particular 2014’s Nansemond, does some of both, giving us traditional Appalachian and Piedmont string music that’s infused with the sound and spirit of the modern avant-garde. Though “solo” in name, Nansemond is a full-band effort, allowing Bowles to produce tunes like the album’s bookends, “Sleepy Lake Bike Club” and “Sleepy Lake Tire Swing” that weave rich guitar textures around his virtuosic banjo work.

These sets at Union Pool and Silent Barn were true solo affairs, with Bowles the support act for Joan Shelley and Elisa Ambrogio, respectively. In front of two crowds that couldn’t have been more different, Bowles performed sets that delivered the full range of what’s meaningful about Nansemond. Both were all-Nansemond affairs that included the “Sleepy Lake” pieces and his straightforward medley of “Jonah and the Whale” and “Poor Liza Jane”. At Union Pool we got “Moonshine Is the Sunshine”, closer to the former numbers in tone, while at Silent Barn, Bowles added something more experimental to the reportoire, with “Chuckatuck”, a song in which Tom Carter’s guitar work figures prominently on the record. You could’ve heard a pin drop among the Union Pool crowd, who Nathan thanked, almost baffled, for how respectful they were. If playing for the younger crowd at Silent Barn — who’d already been treated to a couple of punk bands — represented an uphill climb, Bowles didn’t show it; if anything, the spare arrangement of “Chuckatuck”, extended by three minutes versus the album version, ought to go down as one of that song’s best takes.

The Union Pool set was recorded with a soundboard feed from the house engineer Rob together with my Schoeps MK41 supercardiod microphones, while Eric PH recorded the Silent Barn gig with a straight soundboard feed from the engineer Mike, with only a tiny amount of his AKG 480 cardiods mixed in.

Download the Union Pool show [FLAC] | [MP3]

Download the Silent Barn show [FLAC] | [MP3]

Stream the Union Pool show:

Stream the Silent Barn show:

Nathan Bowles
2015-02-12
Union Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard (engineer: Rob) + Schoeps MK41 (PAS)>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (fades, compression, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, exciter)>Audacity 2.0.5 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 [intro]
02 Sleepy Lake Bike Club
03 [banter1]
04 Moonshine is the Sunshine [Jeffrey Cain]
05 [banter2]
06 Jonah and the Whale [traditional] / folk medley
07 [banter3]
08 Sleepy Lake Tire Swing
____________________________________________________

Nathan Bowles
2015-01-31
Silent Barn
Brooklyn, NY

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by Eric PH

Soundboard (engineer: Mike) + AKG C480B/CK61 (FOB, PAS) > Roland R-26 > 2xWAV(24/48) > Adobe Audition CC (align, mixdown) > Audacity 2.0.5 (amplify, fades, downsample, dither, tracking, tagging) > FLAC (level 8)

Tracks [45:13]
01. Sleepy Lake Bike Club
02. [banter/tuning]
03. Jonah/Poor Liza Jane
04. [banter/tuning]
05. Sleepy Lake Tire Swing
06. [banter/tuning]
07. Chuckatuck

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Nathan Bowles, visit his website, and buy Nansemond from Paradise of Bachelors.

nathanbowles2015-01-31silentbarn

Black Twig Pickers: September 7, 2013 Paradise of Bachelors/WXYC Day Show, Hopscotch Music Festival (Raleigh, NC) – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

October 31, 2013
By


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[Photos courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors]

The great folklorist Alan Lomax always feared that the mass culture would destroy regional styles of music, creating an indistinct, homogenized whole with no sense of place. While his thesis hasn’t totally been proven wrong, the scope of technology and the fervent interest in music fostered in part by it today allow people to reach beyond their borders to preserve such styles, as well as present them to a wider audience.

Enter the Black Twig Pickers, playing Appalachian old-time music of southwest Virginia the way it’s meant to be played. Their music aims to both preserve tradition, as well as expand upon it in ways that distance and lack of technology couldn’t in its earlier years. The Twigs are regulars at the Hopscotch Music Festival, having provided tunes for the Three Lobed/WXDU Day Show the past few years, but this year they were also able to join our friends at Paradise of Bachelors for a full set on their lovely outdoor stage.

The Twigs have had a great year so far, releasing both their excellent Rough Carpenters LP along with a split 7″ with Steve Gunn on Thrill Jockey. Carpenters takes the scope of the Twigs’ music a little farther afield in the Appalachian tradition, bringing in new regional influences and showing more emphasis on dance numbers. This set began in transition from the Pelt set moments before, as Pelt members Mike Gangloff and Nathan Bowles segued the outro drone from that set into the traditional bluegrass number “Dan Friend’s Piece”. From there, we got a short and sweet frolic through the Twigs’ catalog, including “Old Christmas Morning” and “Rough Carpenters” from Rough Carpenters. At a festival that featured everything from black metal to electronically composed ambient music, this was an opportunity to take a brief step back in time to honor a tradition whose influence, even as it has morphed and change, well exceeded its original borders or its original players’ wildest intentions. Were he still alive, Lomax might see a show like this, and find comfort yet.

I recorded this set in the same manner as the other sets at this show, and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Stream “Rough Carpenters

Download the complete show: [MP3] | [FLAC]

Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.

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Black Twig Pickers
2013-09-07
Paradise of Bachelors / WXYC Day Show
Louise “Scottie” Stephenson Amphitheatre
Raleigh, NC USA

Schoeps MK4V>KC5>CMC6 + Soundboard>>Edirol R-44 [Oade Concert Mod]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (mix down, adjustments)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ)>Audacity 2.03 (tracking, fades, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( level 8 )

Tracks
01 Dan Friend’s Piece
02 The Route
03 [tuning/banter]
04 Rough Carpenters
05 [tuning]
06 Brushy Fork of John’s Creek
07 Old Christmas Morning
08 Merry Mountain Hoedown

If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT the Black Twig Pickers, visit their website, like them on Facebook, and buy Rough Carpenters and their other releases from Thrill Jockey.

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