Stephen Wade - Across the Amerikee: Showpieces from Coal Camp to Cattle Trail

  by Lisa Torem

published: 12 / 8 / 2017

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Review

According to historian/instrumentalist/vocalist Stephen Wade, the Opry’s “Uncle Jimmy” coined the phrase, 'Across the Amerikee' when expounding on the far reach of roots music during his heyday. Wade, who has always shown the utmost respect for his heroes, name checks a number of other inspirations too, such as Fleming Brown, Doc Watson and Tom Paley, etc. in the intelligent booklet which accompanies this melodic and lyrically rich chestnut. This is Wade’s third album on the Smithsonian Folkways label. 2012’s ‘Banjo Diary: Lessons from Tradition’ was critically acclaimed by the popular press as well as Grammy nominated. The following year, ‘The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience’ received an “ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence on the subject of music.” What makes this project unique, Wade asserts, is that it is a solo effort. Here he explains the how and the why: “It’s challenges reside in what qualities a soloist might bring to a piece to justify its inclusion and, secondly, how this gathering of interpretations might yield a satisfying listening experience.” Kudos to Stephen Wade for his humility, but this album project goes way beyond being simply a “satisfying listening experience”. It is the kind of album one can and should listen to again and again, as the tracks are delightfully flavoured with virtuosic nuance and enriched by sound, historical innuendo. In all, there are twenty-one selections spanning multiple moods and styles. Wade engages occasionally in fingerstyle guitar, but primarily plays banjo. Sometimes his haunting renditions--particularly those in which he incorporates drop down tunings, are blues-edged or swampy and other times, they come off as delicately as a Bach fugue—i.e., ‘Grey Eagle’. On ‘Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss’, Wade’s usage of the higher register is phenomenal. ‘Diamond Joe’ excites with an A Capella intro. before settling into a rhapsodic swagger. ‘Hard Head Hardy’ is “a tall tale” that Wade coauthored with Jack Conroy. Here the duo sprinkled images of “buck brush, crab grass and burdocks” into the lively commentary. ‘Swing and Turn, Jubilee’ is succinct and airy: “The hardest work I ever done, working on a farm; easy work I ever done, swinging on a true love’s arm.” Wade’s clever call and response technique and resilient voice brings this lithe song truly to life. He also invokes the raw beauty of America’s bygone days. In ‘Wild Horse,’ you can almost hear sharp hooves scratching against dusty plains, as Wade configures the verses. ‘Come on Buddy, Don’t You Want to Go’ finds him rattling off chains of persuasive chatter. ‘Chesley Chancey’s Cumberland’ benefits from an underlying, but irresistible bluesy twang. ‘KC Whistle’ imbues both the desolation and merriment that the trains of yore, boasted. On ‘Willie Moore,’ Wade mirrors his instrument’s melodic line, flawlessly, as he details an ill-fated love affair. The themes are universal, but varied, ranging from newly discovered and unrequited love to industrial conflict. ‘Trouble at the Coal Creek Mines’, Wade explains, is about “the extended strife that broke out between the free miners and state militia in Coal Creek, Tennessee, on 'Bastille Day in 1891.” What better way to learn about America’s history than through such heartfelt melodies? To balance it all out, there are also light-hearted, traditional songs: ‘Shortenin’ Bread’ and ‘Goodbye, Old Paint’. That said, Stephen Wade’s ‘Across the Amerikee’ is a must-have for aficionados of American roots music.

Track Listing:-

1 Wild Horse
2 Come on Buddie, Don't You Want to Go
3 Chesley Chancey's Cumberland Gap
4 Swing and Turn, Jubilee
5 Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
6 Diamond Joe
7 Puncheon Camps
8 Hard Head Hardy
9 Kc Whistle
10 Willie Moore
11 Uncle Dave's Fandango
12 Goodbye, Old Paint
13 Tom Paley's John Henry
14 Trouble at the Coal Creek Mines
15 Gray Eagle
16 Lost John
17 Shortenin' Bread
18 Reno Factory / Brown Skin Blues
19 Sourwood Mountain
20 In the Pines
21 Cherry Blossom Waltz