Earl Lee Grace
Blackgrass
1996
I was just getting ready to post The Dwarves debut record, Horror Stories, when I remembered this odd little record, a bluegrass record by Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia. A few of these are Dwarves songs redone bluegrass style, but a few only appear here. The weirdest thing about this record is how good the performances are. All Dahlia handles is the vocals, but he threw together a great session band to lay down the music, and as a result, the vocals are the weakest part. His voice is too distinctively Blag to really work in this context, but it's an interesting little record nonetheless, and the instrumental tracks and the one with vocals by either Dee Lamnon or Karen Raymond (not sure which) could easily fit in on a "real" bluegrass record and no one would be the wiser. There's a fake little backstory in the liner notes about Earl Lee Grace, a 15-year-old banjo prodigy who randomly wandered into Blag's life just long enough to record this album. I wish I had the energy to dig through my cd bins to find it, cause it's pretty funny, but whatever. Funny side note, though, is that the Allmusic review doesn't get that this is a gag, and praises Grace's banjo skills, but points out he doesn't have the vocal chops to keep up with the music. Ha!
Blackgrass
ps. Track #3 is misspelled. It should be Viodinah. I didn't notice until I'd already uploaded and didn't feel like fixing it.
4 comments:
hey grammatron
i don't know any of these bands, but your blog makes me want to listen to them. i will do that sometime when i am on a computer that i own.
yours,
gorgeous boners
(p.s.-the word i had to use to verify i'm not a bot was "craciar")
You just keep getting craciar and craciar, Peter.
oh sweet. i would have bought this if i ever saw it in a store circa 2001 but i didn't and basically forgot about it. i like a lot of the dwarves' output a lot and don't think they get the respect they deserve.
did you read blag's novel? yeah me either.
- a hung bunny
I didn't read his novel. He's got a way with words, but I'm not sure I could stomach a whole novel of his style. Would love to hear from someone who's read it though.
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