Monday Exclusive: NEW tradfolk from Decemberists side project Black Prairie
Hope no one minds the mid-week jump-in, but I just opened an email announcing brand new Decemberists side project Black Prairie - their first show isn’t until next week, at San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival - and was thrilled to discover a beautifully dark, moody acoustic Americana take on traditional folk song Red Rocking Chair attached that just begged to be passed along.
According to the press release, the Portland-based band, who will be releasing their album Feast of the Hunters’ Moon on Bluegrass-and-more label Sugar Hill Records on March 9, features predominantly instrumental string band compositions from three members of the Decemberists - guitarist Chris Funk on dobro, bassist Nate Query, and Jenny Conlee’s accordion stylings - with violin and guitar from fellow Oregonians Annalisa Tornfelt and Jon Neufeld, and gorgeous here-and-there vocals from Tornfelt on a few tracks as well. As Red Rocking Chair reveals, the resulting sound has elements of gypsy music and bluegrass, coupled with a fluid yet modern indiefolk sensibility; if this song is any indication, the project is poised to take SXSW by storm.
The combination of label and talent speaks volumes about both the great work going on over at Sugar Hill, and the continued development of the Portland scene. More significantly, in this particular case, the appearance of Decemberists/Death Cab producer Tucker Martine, the backgrounds of the various members, and the promise of both a few more traditional numbers plus originals “containing multiple movement that ebb and flow”, leave me more than eager to hear the rest of the album.
Check out the exclusive track below, plus jumpin’ gypsy/klezmer jamgrass track Back Alley on their MySpace page, and then join Black Prairie’s facebook page to stay abreast of a group that may well prove to be the next big thing in both the ongoing string band revival and the continued evolution of folk music.
- Black Prairie: Red Rocking Chair (trad)
(from Feast of the Hunters Moon, 2010)
Apologies for the quick-and-dirty “press release” post style - it’s rare for a coverblogger to be so early in the blogosphere with something this juicy, and I just couldn’t resist. We’ll be back Wednesday with our usual full feature.
Category: Uncategorized
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:38 am
you don’t have to apologize for nothing
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:14 pm
[...] featured both Black Prairie and Sarah Jarosz here on Cover Lay Down before. So its especially wonderful to report that their [...]