The old country meets the old west on The Rodeo Eroded for a Transylvanian cattle drive. With all the expansiveness of a Sergio Leone epic and the latent strangeness of a Tim Burton film, San Francisco’s Tin Hat Trio makes a sort of Baroque western music. By mixing jazz, cowboy music, classical, Eastern European folk, and even a little bit of Tin Pan Alley, they are a post-modern melting pot.
On the first track, “Bill”, Mark Orton’s dobro twangs rhythm under Rob Burger and Carla Kihlstedt’s melancholy airs on accordion and violin, respectively. Next, a tuba joins in on “Fear Of The South”. When Billy Martin guests on “Holiday Joel”, a near-samba breaks out in the middle of a contemporary jazz hustle ‘n’ bustle piece.
Prepared guitar and tack piano accentuate the bizarre on “O.N.E.O.”, a sprightly lope that sounds as if it should be the soundtrack to a silent cowboy movie where the Dalton Gang meets Lon Chaney Sr. as the Wolfman.
Willie Nelson turns in a stunning performance on the album’s sole vocal track, a lush take on Ann Ronnell’s classic “Willow Weep For Me”. The song’s push-pull cadence and ornate beauty are far more complementary to Nelson’s reedy voice than the adult-contemporary drivel of his most recent solo works.
