MasterMind

Greg Brown's gritty observations

by Mark Edmonds

Greg Brown has never been a guy you could label predictable. In the past decade, when he isn't experimenting (he's tried everything from putting William Blake's poetry to music to children's records), he's writing some of the edgiest stuff this side of Dylan. His gritty observations, paired with his resonating guitar arrangements, set him apart in an increasingly bland folk genre. His music, in fact, has more in common with gospel and blues than folk. Growing up listening to both, he was captivated by their spiritual electricity. They now power his own music. Brown's standout individuality hasn't been a recipe for large scale commercial success though. Like many artists who fall between genre lines, he's found it hard to hit with any one audience. As a result, after 13 discs and countless critics' kudos, Brown, who appears this Saturday at the Bull Run, is still a cult artist.

But my prediction is that this will change, thanks in large part to Slant 6 Mind (Red House), a 14-song collection of original compositions that's collected more praise in the months since its release late last fall than any of Brown's previous releases. Spend a little time with the disc -- enough to let its warm, guitar-powered energy soak into your subconscious -- and it's easy to hear why. During Mind's Minnesota sessions, Brown paired up with a small squad that included guitarists Bo Ramsey and Kelly Joe Phelps, bassist Gordy Johnson, and drummer Paul Griffith. Thanks to a natural chemistry, the five conjure up the relaxed feel of a Saturday afternoon front-porch get-together. Ramsey and Phelps support Brown's strumming and singing with electric leads and whining slide, while Johnson and Griffith bring up the rear. Meanwhile, a handful of guests adds in the occasional pluck of a banjo, scrape of a fiddle, and whoop of a harmonica; and in so doing, they twist and turn the proceedings in the direction of whatever roots genre you happen to like. Bluesheads will gravitate toward the soft shuffle of "Mose Allison Played Here," the church vibe of "Speaking in Tongues," or the John Lee Hooker-esque feel of "Enough." Contempo-folkies will find plenty to like in the grooves of tracks such as "Loneliness House" and "Spring and All." And anyone in between is sure to find something of interest in the seven other tracks.

Throughout, Brown's writing has never been sharper; his lyrical imagery of childhood remembrances or hometown haunts never clearer. The combined effect is a stark picture of life in the southwestern Iowa he grew up in.

"It was really more Appalachian than Midwestern," he recalls. "The music is, the countryside is, and the people are. My dad was an open Bible preacher; and we had a church out on the Kansas/Oklahoma border. Speaking in tongues, the laying on of hands, that all happened in our church. I have beautiful memories of the good side of that. And I saw some of the not-so-good side, too."

Brown points out that another component of the disc's sound is one you don't hear. For the first time in his career, he was comfortable in a studio environment -- for which he credits Ramsey. "Up until a few years ago, I'd want to go in and record things as fast as possible. He taught me to enjoy the whole process, and that probably translates into the music."

The two decided they wanted the disc to have that same feel of many of the old blues recordings (Brown's first was an old Bill Broonzy LP). Hoping to capture that "cheap equipment sound," they used old analog recording machines. Brown also modified his approach to each song. "I was used to bringing in the arrangements," he explains, "but here, that just wasn't working. Things felt canned. So we wound up reworking everything. It ended up a spontaneous kind of thing. I'd kind of idly play a riff on my guitar, and Bo would just kind of jump on it. Then everyone would jump in, and we'd suddenly realize we had the groove we were looking for."

The end result is a disc that reminds one of some of best Chess recordings, where, more often than not, spontaneity produced exciting results. Brown says that same seat-of-the-pants feeling is why most of today's singer/ songwriters sound flat on disc. "Jesse Winchester, Ferron, Ani DiFranco, Richard Thompson," he says. "To me, they have that thing . . . a passion to their work. But then there's kind of a big, vast area after that I don't hear a lot of passion in. I don't know if I can define what it is other than some kind of deep hook thing that comes alive and grabs me -- something that goes way back there to ancient times when we were huddled around a fire somewhere in a cave and scared. Somebody started singing and dancing, and everyone felt better for a minute."

Greg Brown appears at 8:30 p.m. on March 28 at the Bull Run, in Shirley. Tickets are $12. Call (978) 425-4311.