Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tin Hat Trio: The Rodeo Eroded

119

Tin Hat Trio: The Rodeo Eroded

By

View read count
Tin Hat Trio: The Rodeo Eroded
The Tin Hat Trio held two people captive one recent evening on New York State's Taconic Parkway. An orange crescent moon in the western sky followed the rental car, while the chug of a dobro and the sad lament of violin mingled with accordion drifted around the air-conditioned interior. The road was long, but the evergreens were endless, and the city seemed an eternity away.

The San Francisco group's third release The Rodeo Eroded is a tangle of seductive Eastern European melodies, sprightly irreverent percussion, and sly forays into other lands. Composed of Rob Burger (keyboards, accordion, harmonica), Carla Kihlstedt (violin, viola, voice), and Mark Orton (guitars, dobro, banjo), the trio kicks up a nostalgic dust of traditional American sounds enhanced, or perhaps corrupted by foreign influences. A smattering of exciting guests add their expertise to the disc. After Phish drummer Jon Fishman's energetic percussion display on "Happy Hour", comes the pure innocence of Willie Nelson's voice. He sings of falling shadows and whispering winds on the poignant "Willow Weep For Me" while Zeena Parkins plays harp. Billy Martin of Medeski Martin and Wood lends his percussive abilities to the wacky "Holiday Joel", and Bryan Smith of Deep Banana Blackout plays tuba on two songs. Even without the big names, something serious and rare is going on with this record. There's a musical communication that transcends ethnicity. It combines influences from widespread places, eras and cultures. It varies from intensely lush to acutely singular. It makes you want to stare deeply into the dark eyes of the stranger across the room and kick up the ruffles of your skirt, or bounce over the prairie in a covered wagon with sweat on your face.

The second half of the disc seems to wander renegade-style into no-man's land. Strong emotions continue to arise, but the meaning gets misguided. An eeriness oozes in and dissipates the memory of those enchanting opening tracks.



This review first appeared in the September 2002 issue of All About Jazz: New York .

Track Listing

1. Bill (Orton) - 5:03 2. Fear of the South (Orton) - 4:01 3. Holiday Joel (Orton) - 3:31 4. Happy Hour (Burger) - 2:56 5. Willow Weep for Me (Ronnel) - 4:37 6. Nickel Mountain (Orton) - 2:44 7. O.N.E.O. (Orton) - 3:35 8. The Last Cowboy (Orton) - 5:22 9. Maximo's Plunge (Orton) - 3:17 10. Rubies, Pearls, And Emeralds (Burger) - 4:52 11. Manmoth (Orton) - 4:26 12. Interlude (Burger) - 1:31 13. Under the Gun (Kihlstedt) - 2:14 14. Night of the Skeptic (Orton) - 2:48 15. Sweep (Kihlstedt) - 1:51

Personnel

Willie Nelson - Vocals, Guest Appearance Joan Fishman - Drums Zeena Parkins - Harp, Guest Appearance Billy Martin - Percussion, Guest Appearance Bryan Smith - Tuba, Guest Appearance Carla Kihlstedt - Violin, Viola, Vocals, Voices Rob Burger - Organ, Harmonica, Piano, Accordion, Celeste Mark Orton - Banjo, Dobro, Guitar, Arranger

Album information

Title: The Rodeo Eroded | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: BAG Production Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.