Kelly Pardekooper
House of Mud
© 2003 Kelly Pardekooper Music/ASCAP (692191002729)
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Continuing to feed and stir the rich Eastern Iowa stew of blues-rock, folk and country with a personal vision, flair and conviction worthy of his celebrated homeboys.
tracks
- 1 House of Mud
- 2 Drown in Alcohol
- 3 Whatever It Was
- 4 Hayseed Girl
- 5 Tell Me Quickly
- 6 Highway Home
- 7 Can't Go There
- 8 Tiny Angel
- 9 Hell's Kitchen
- 10 Pray For Rain
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Only two years have passed since Kelly Pardekooper made his Trailer Records debut with the down-home, rustic soul of Johnson County Snow, but his brand-spankin'-new House Of Mud makes it abundantly clear that the singer/songwriter has packed a lot of miles and a whole lotta livin' into the time in between.
Inspired--and mentored--by stellar Eastern Iowa roots mavens Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey, and Dave Moore, Pardekooper continues to feed and stir the rich regional stew of blues-rock, folk and country with a personal vision, flair and conviction worthy of his celebrated homeboys.
Adding dramatically to this heady mix is Tucson-based guitar-slinger Teddy Morgan, whose critically-acclaimed Lost Love And Highways on HighTone Records was produced by Bo Ramsey. While Morgan's regular band, The Pistolas, was on hiatus, he invited Kelly and his Devil's House Band to tour with him--where they both opened the shows AND backed up Teddy.
The upshot was that (almost overnight) the lads leap-frogged to a classier level of venues (with more demanding audiences), received welcome
national exposure, and developed a symbiotic connection to the mercurial Morgan--even as the force-fed double-duty significantly bolstered their chops and musical flexibility.
Effectively throwing themselves into the deep end of the pool, Pardekooper and band not only survived, but thrived, and when original Devil's House Band guitarist Dustin Busch elected to pursue his own muse in Arizona, Kelly and the group's crackerjack rhythm section (bassist Atom Robinson and drummer Matt Winegardner) continued to hit the road with Morgan.
It was on one such foray that Kelly, Atom, Matt and Teddy laid down the basic tracks for House Of Mud during an intense but highly productive week at Shrimpboat Sound in Key West, Florida. Upon returning to Iowa, the balance of the disc was assembled at Cedar Falls' Catamount Studio.
Apart from a rambunctious, hip-shakin' romp on Greg Brown's "Whatever It Was" (from Slant 6 Mind), every track on House Of Mud is a Pardekooper original, with the varied settings--one solo cut, two different duos, one trio, two different quartets and a quintet--accurately reflecting the assorted shapes and personnel permutations he exhibits in his highly flexible 'live' performances.
Through it all, the Song remains paramount. "The song is the most important element to me," Kelly asserts. "I don't write in a very original way, musically--all I have that is unique is my view, my perspective, my experience, my interpretation and my voice. The words I choose and how I express them vocally are the only real variables that I work with. I am blessed to have access to some wonderful musicians, but the song is the heart of the music. "I never let reality interfere with my songwriting, " he continues. "Some tunes are very real in every way. Some are inspired by the real, then twisted to fit the essence of what was initially inspiring about the real. And others are pure fiction. "I am drawn to characters, relationships, sin, death, faith, love and all things unknown, untouchable and intangible." Likewise, the relationship between words and music varies. "Sometimes," admits Pardekooper, "it's all about the lyrics [as on the solo lament "Highway Home"]. Sometimes it's all about the sound--using words and voice as an additional instrument [on the dream-pop of "Hayseed Girl"].
And sometimes you get what feels like both sound and lyric merging right in the same tune [check out the seductive, swirling downward-pull of "Drown In Alcohol"]."
As a singer, Pardekooper creates a steady, uneasy tension by delivering his laconic, sharply-drawn observations with a cool, unhurried vocal style
(marked by a drawling roll-off) that suggests an undercurrent of impending doom. And if the songs aren't necessarily all fatalistic, let's just say that the artist has seen enough to know that just because things may have gone bad, that doesn't mean they can't take a turn for the worse...
Oh, what--you thought an album called "House Of Mud" was about PLAYING in the dirt?
Co-producers Pardekooper and Morgan utilize their ace cohorts with a purposeful ear for tone and texture. Robinson and Winegardner flex and stretch over seven tunes, hanging closely to each cut's internal heartbeat.
Teddy's huge electric guitar-scapes suggest Big Sky space and Old West dread, Bo Ramsey's harrowing six-string offerings drape "Can't Go There" in cut-with-a-knife menace, Marty Letz' steel guitar lends nostalgic melancholy, and Zollo's organ on "Drown In Alcohol" is a come-hither siren from the abyss.
From pillar to post, Pardekooper's commitment to and involvement with his songwriting is so deep--so palpable--that when he says, "It's kind of gotten like breathing these past few years; I don't think about it when I'm doing it, but I'm pretty sure I would die if I stopped," you've gotta believe he just might not be exaggerating.