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Charlie Ballantine: East by Midwest
ByBallantine and his cohortsdrummer Dan Weiss and bassist Quinn Sternbergdig into the stripped- down trio sound and come up with a distinctive brand. The guitar is raw, rough around the edges, like the sound of the guitarists heard on the early blues albums out of Chess RecordsHubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar sidekick from the early '50s onward, or even Wolf (on guitar) himself, with those ragged, ringing edges.
Ballantine offers five covers and four originals. Opening with his "Storyteller," he sets a laid-back country mood, sitting on the back porch swapping tales. "Runaround" is tart and freewheeling.. Thelonious Monk's "Trinkle Tinkle" gives Ballantine a chance to display a loose-edged virtuosity.
The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" is one of that group's stranger and seemingly unrecoverable tunes. And for the record, it may be its best. Ballantine and company turn it into a small masterpiece here, with big fat, metallic chords and reverence for the melody, starting in a sedate manner before Ballantine starts ripping, making it a ballsy anthem, the way Jimi Hendrix took Bob Dylan's serene "All Along The Watchtower" into the stratosphere in 1968. "Tomorrow Never Knows," also from the Beatles' songbook, is ominous, like a bad moon risin'the actual astronomical event, not the John Fogarty tune. Ballantine could have made an entire disc of Beatles music, in the manner of Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays The Beatles (Nonesuch, 2023). He did it for Dylan.
Ornette Coleman's "When Will The Blues Leave" snaps and pops, Ballantine's Wes Montgomery-like, searing single notes burning holes in the stereo speakers.
Rocker Elliot Smith's "Alameda" closes the show with a groove beneath a delicate, pretty melody, as if a semblance of peace has been found, wrapping up an excellent, atmospherically cohesive guitar trio outing.
Track Listing
Storyteller; Runaround; Trinkle, Tinkle; Strawberry Fields Forever; Modern Bohemian; Tomorrow Never Knows; Cigarette Siren; When Will the Blues Leave; Alameda.
Personnel
Album information
Title: East by Midwest | Year Released: 2025 | Record Label: Origin Records
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