Trimeter

****1/2

The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel and Tanya) have been making music for more than 30 years, yet THE FAMILY SONGBOOK is only their second release as a trio, following 2014’s acclaimed THE LeftHADEN TRIPLETS. That Ry Cooder-produced set featured their unique renditions of songs associated with such country legends as the Carter Family, Kitty Wells, the Stanley Brothers, Webb Pierce and the Louvin Brothers. This new album is quite different. As the title suggests the songs are related to the Haden family, and more specifically, the triplets’ grandfather Carl Haden, who enjoyed an extended connection with old-timey traditional country music from the 1930s into the late 1950s. Based in Missouri, he hosted the long-running radio show Uncle Carl & the Haden Family alongside his wife Virginia and their children. During this period he worked quite closely with the original Carter Family and later Porter Wagoner. Alongside the radio show Carl would produce sheet music and songbooks which he would sell over the radio or during their local performances around Springfield, Missouri. A few years ago, his eldest son Carl Jr discovered a couple of these old songbooks at the family home.

Carl’s younger brother, Charlie Haden (the triplets’ father), was for many years an acclaimed jazz bassist, but in his younger days he was a featured singer in the family show—Yodelin’ Cowboy Charlie. Petra, Rachel and Tanya were enthralled by the stories of their grandfather and despite years of performing and recording with such acts as that dog, Weezer, the Foo Fighters, Bill Frisell, Green Day, the Decemberists and as the Fates on Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown, they retained a passion for the old-time traditional country music that their grandfather had championed and decided to utilise the old songbooks for this album.

The triplets alongside their musical accompanists Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, Doyle Bramhall II, Don Was, Larry Taylor and producer Woody Jackson have created a quiet and lyrical sound devoted to telling stories from the past. Through ancient songs and magical timeless original compositions, the everlasting topics of love and longing are reborn once again. Though the feel of this recording is planted in yesteryear, it is cultivated firmly in the now. A sweeping concoction that will take you away and create a transcending listening experience, THE FAMILY SONGBOOK is a quiet relief from the mundane.

Alongside traditional favourites Wayfaring Stranger, I’ll Fly Away and Wildwood Flower, they offer their version of Kanye West’s Say You Will, which fits seamlessly into the set. With low-key finger-picked guitar tones, the song commands attention with tension and a haunting vocal cadence … the lyrics are pure poetry. In contrast Ozark Moon has echoes of the 1930s Coon Creek Girls with a sad forlornness that seems to be hanging in the clouds above time, just out of reach but ever so calmingly familiar. There’s a more contemporary arrangement to Memories of Will Rogers, one of their grandfather’s songs that recalls the Alaskan plane crash that took the humorist’s life back in 1935. With echoes of the Everly Brothers’ mid-1960s styling there’s a foot-stomping rhythm with gnarly guitars and a mournful slide guitar hovering in the background mimicked by the girl’s ethereal vocal.

A standout on the album is Gray Mother Dreaming, a melancholy tune that puts a modern spin on old-timey classic Appalachia. Swaying gracefully between breezy and languid, and brimming with charm, it’s got all the fixings of what has made this trio one of the finest around and enough good faith to keep the campfire burning late. Every Time I Try is a delicate portrayal of forlornness leading a long, winding road towards acceptance of the chains of obsession cracking and fading away into rust and down into the soil. Centred on softly insistent vocals they layer in plucky guitar and quavering Dobro. With their haunting mix of stirring instrumentation and melodious vocals, the trio resurrect What Would You Give an old-time arrangement from the Sacred Harp songbook ... their rendition of the classic song refers to its darkly original arrangement which, when held parallel to its lyricism, makes for an exercise in haunting acerbity.

Sweet, heartfelt, and soul baring, the music of the Haden Triplets is relevant roots music. These songs reverberate from deep within. A must for anyone that loves down home sounds without affectation or hesitation.

www.hadentriplets.com

February 2020