CHRIS STUART & BACKCOUNTRY: Saints and Strangers

Chris Stuart & Backcountry

Saints and Strangers

© 2003 Chris Stuart (829757210124)

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Original bluegrass and Americana music, featuring classic vocals, guitar, banjo, resonator guitar, and upright bass.

notes

Performing original and traditional bluegrass and Americana, Chris Stuart & Backcountry features vocals, guitar, banjo, resonator guitar, and upright bass. Chris is a former winner in both bluegrass and gospel categories at the songwriting conteset at Merlefest and his song "Twenty Naked Pentecostals in a Pontiac" was featured on NPR's "Car Talk."

reviews

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  • Unforgettable
    author: Joergen Olsen

    Beautiful melodies. The lyrics WOW. Quality, quality in the whole project. A must for bluegrasslovers. Now in Denmark even more grateful fans.

  • Like it very much
    author: Judy Cooper

    I heard about you from the front of Diana Gabaldon's book. Since I'm writing a novel too (set in Appalachia) I though I might borrow some inspiration too! I'm enjoying the music very much and especially like the Kentucky song--seeings as how I'm a Kentucky girl. I also bought Mohave, but it's a gift for a friend so I haven't cheated and listened to hers. Good stuff!

  • The right direction for Bluegrass
    author: Pat Francis

    Every album I own has one or two tracks which stand out above the rest. Saints and Strangers breaks the mould with every track mind-numbingly good. This will be in my top five favourite albums for a long time to come.

  • author: Sally

    WONDERFUL! The whole group is simply fantastic. I don't understand why they're not better known.

  • Great Bluegrass Music
    author: The Mandolin Man

    Really good Bluegrass Music. Listen to the samples and you will hear that is true. The Music speaks for itself.

  • Something a little different but still a part of the bluegrass world
    author: Bill Jolliff

    We live in a rich period of bluegrass history--a time when a tremendous variety of music lands beneath the bluegrass banner. For some folks, this breadth signifies the degeneration of the form. And sometimes it does. But maybe just as often, the variety results from good musicians using bluegrass chops and tools to express their art as they hear it. That's how I understand Chris Stuart and Backcountry's new CD, SAINTS AND STRANGERS. Now it's true that much of this album would pass for bluegrass and find a happy response on any festival stage. Though up-tempo driving tunes don't predominate, several numbers--especially banjo player Janet Beazley's "From Now On," dobro picker Ivan Rosenberg's instrumental, "Buckshot," and the Jeff Harvey-penned "Lonesome for You," -- give the soloists a chance to demonstrate their chops,while Dean Knight holds the bottom down on the doghouse. But the artistic focus of the album is Chris Stuart's songwriting, and he might better be described as a "singer-songwriter working in the bluegrass land of ideas" than as a "bluegrass songwriter." Truth is, his lyrical matter is sometimes closer to the tradition than the music itself. "Silver Quarter"--a lyric that memorializes Mr. Monroe's practice of giving each child who spoke with him a shiny quarter--is a medium tempo country number reminiscent of some of Larry Cordell's work. "Jimmie Brown Revisited" continues the story of the Mac Wiseman classic into Jimmie's adult life--and death--but the style is closer to Nashville than Rosine. "This Body Is A Honky Tonk" is another slow country number--the kind we called a belly-rubber back in my bar-band days. To my ear, it's pretty close to what you find today on country radio-- the exception being that Stuart develops his metaphor with far more poetic depth than Nashvegas radio allows. But his most interesting lyrical piece is also the greatest departure from the bluegrass tradition. In a six-minute exploration dominated by sounds we associate more with old Liverpool than old Kentucky, Stuart presents--through the journey and dream of a non-believer on the Mayflower--the founding of America in all its ideological diversity. This song is not bluegrass in its form or its rhythm--and certainly not in its harmonizing chorus of tin whistles--but it is a beautifully composed and arranged piece that reminds me of the kind of material Gordon Lightfoot was doing in the 70s, and with a similar level of poetic achievement. Ultimately Stuart's most traditional-sounding creations are his gospel tunes, which are very convincing indeed: "Paul and Peter Walked" is a bluegrass number with a heavy backbeat, like that featured by many of the more contemporary bands on the bluegrass scene; but "His Glory Will Last" is a ? time gospel number in the Stanley Brothers tradition, and it's as solidly written as any of their numbers. To my taste, the band's singing is best on these pieces as well. On the opposite extreme, the project closes with an arrangement that trades bluegrass instrumentation for hillbilly zydeco, including accordion and drums; I'd heard "Twenty Naked Pentecostals in a Pontiac" around a number of jams, but had no idea where it came from. It was a treat to hear the writer do it. Clearly SAINTS AND STRANGERS will not fit on the traditional bluegrass shelf of many of our list members. But I suspect that many of us listen to a variety of acoustic music, that we have more than one shelf full of CDs. For folks who are looking for something a little different but which is still a part of the bluegrass world, Chris Stuart and Backcountry deserve a listen. (Bill Jolliff, reviewer, Nwbluegrass Yahoogroup)

  • Musical phenoms turning heads with their well-written & arranged eclectic Americ
    author: Joe Ross, Nwbluegrass yahoogroup

    Playing Time - 42:39 -- You gotta love the contemporary bluegrass music of Chris Stuart and Backcountry. Like Bill Monroe, he's got a quarter in his hand, a bluegrass band in his heart, and his soul will sing forever like a blue Kentucky man. These words, in his opening cut of "Silver Quarter" explain his approach to his personalized Americana music. A good song's gotta tell a story too. Ever wonder what happened to the newsboy, Jimmie Brown, the skantily-clad barefoot kid who sold the "Morning Star"? Unless you can find a copy of the "Gospel News" that tells a different story, I think that Chris Stuart does a great job answering the question in "Jimmie Brown Revisited." The title cut, "Saints and Strangers," is a 6-minute Stuart ballad that tells of the settlers heading for America aboard the Mayflower, and Janet Beazley's whistles impart a very Celtic influence to the piece. With strong songs like these, one can see why Stuart was selected as an IBMA showcase songwriter in 2003, as well as being a former winner in both the bluegrass and gospel categories at the Merlefest songwriting contest. He even shows his skill at turning a lyrical country phrase with "This Body is a Honky Tonk," and penning a Cajun novelty number that was featured on National Public Radio's Car Talk show, "Twenty Naked Pentecostals in a Pontiac." Stuart's proficient accompanists in his band, Backcountry, also add some solid banjo, resonator guitar, and upright bass. Banjo-player Janet Beazley penned and sings lead on "From Now On" and "Just Tell A Lie." Her banjo picking provides nice lively rhythms and fills. Resonator guitarist Ivan Rosenberg is well-known for his work with the Montana-based bluegrass bands, The Rank Strangers and Nine Pound Hammer, as well as for his own CDs, "The Lost Coast" and "Back to the Pasture." Ivan's self-penned instrumental tune, "Buckshot," is a tribute to Buck Graves and Shot Jackson. He also offers exciting clawhammer banjo, found in the mix on the title cut along with Beazley's 5-string to give the song a strong flavor of tossing and turning in the ocean's bowl. Bassist Dean Knight sings lead on Jeff Harvey's bouncy bluegrass number, "Lonesome For You." Special guests on 1-3 tracks each include Jeff Harvey (mandolin), Eric Uglam (guitar), Jason Mowery (fiddle), Tom Sauber (fiddle, Cajun triangle), Patrick Sauber (accordion), and Roger Gillespie (percussion). Bluegrass discophiles, take note of "Saints and Strangers." These 12 songs are predominantly hard-driving contemporary bluegrass, but you've got to appreciate the album's three Cs - Celtic, Cajun and Country - influences too. Chris Stuart and Backcountry are musical phenoms that continue to turn heads with their well-written and arranged eclectic Americana offerings. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

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