By wedding old-school country melodies and lyrics to the dance rhythms and textures of modern electronica, Greg Garing has managed to create one of the most innovative country-flavored albums in quite some time.
Garing brings plenty of rock-solid country credibility to the project. He played fiddle with Peter Rowan and bluegrass great Jimmy Martin, then went solo with a lonesome retro honky-tonk sound straight out of the late 1940s. The heavy underground buzz he generated in Nashville helped to spawn the retro Lower Broadway scene that led to the emergence of BR5-49.
Somewhere along the way, Garing became enamored with electronica, and his stunning major-label debut album is the result. Garing knows how to construct an effective pop hook, and his fusion of such disparate sensibilities is seamless. Fiddles, mandolins and banjos sound perfectly at ease with synths, samplers and drum machines. In some of the songs, the country elements are so subtle that they might not even be noticed on the dance floor; in others they’re more prominent.
Even when the music strays furthest from country, Garing’s soulful nasality provides some undeniable country seasoning. Still, his rather striking vocals aren’t markedly twangy, and it’s conceivable that ultra-catchy songs such as “My Love Is Real” have a real shot at becoming urban dance-floor hits.
Garing first recorded “Safe Within Your Arms” as a retro honky-tonk song for Bloodshot’s Nashville: The Other Side Of The Alley compilation. It’s radically recast here, but it still sounds utterly natural and deeply soulful. Other highlights include the haunting “Dreams Too Real To Hold”; “Walk Away From Me”, which samples Dock Boggs; “Where The Bluegrass Grows”, with Peter Rowan helping out on vocals and mandolin; and the gorgeous ballad “All My Stars In Your Eyes”. Twang fans may prefer the more country-flavored tunes, but every song here is successful on its own terms.
In short, this ain’t no cheesy bluegrass macarena. Garing is after something considerably more substantial than novelty value, and he’s succeeded with this brilliant album.
