New album: Inside Llewyn Davis Soundtrack
Artists: Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Various Artists
Label: Nonesuch
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The soundtrack to the latest Joel and Ethan Coen movie reunites the directors with T-Bone Burnette, the musical guru/producer who helmed their last music-centric project, "O Brother, Where art Thou?".
The "O Brother" soundtrack sold a ton, garnered all the right awards and helped turn a younger generation onto bluegrass music, and "Inside Llewyn Davis" takes a similar path but with 1960s folk. The "Llewyn Davis" project — at least from a musical standpoint — has a tougher mountain to climb, as the folk scene never fully recovered from Bob Dylan's defection to electric-based music.
While Dylan was the breakout commercial star of the folk scene, Dave Van Ronk (the loose inspiration for the Llewyn Davis character) was held up in similar regard within folk music circles and actually supported Dylan early on. Ronk didn't have songwriting chops to match Dylan's, but his performances of other people's material were legendary. Dylan even based his version of "House Of The Rising Son" on Van Ronk's.
It'll be tough turning a new generation that seemingly cares about nothing onto songs that care about everything, but as an accurate depiction the "Llewyn Davis" soundtrack works. The star of "Llewyn Davis" — Oscar Isaac — sings and plays brilliantly on traditional fare such as "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" and "Fare Thee Well". Isaac's unlikely co-star Justin Timberlake joins in with Carrie Mulligan and Stark Sands for a surprisingly sublime reading of "500 Miles".
The soundtrack features Van Ronk's beautiful version of "Green, Green Rocky Road", but the real eye raiser is the song "Please Mr. Kennedy", a co-write between Burnette, the Coen Brothers, Timberlake, Ed Rush, and George Cromarty. Viewers of the film will have to decide if the song is a tribute to or send-up of the lighter side of protest music.
The "Inside Llewyn Davis" soundtrack no doubt serves it's film counterpart well, but it'll be interesting to see if the music makes any type of impact beyond the lobby of the movie theater.
Classic album: Folksinger
Artist: Dave Van Ronk
Label: Prestige
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Dave Van Ronk was a key figure in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s that produced Tom Paxton, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Ronk's first album appeared in 1959, but his 1967 album "Folksinger" is regarded by many as his best.
Comprised mostly of traditional, public domain songs, Van Ronk's passionate vocals and exquisite acoustic guitar playing were at odds with the electric sounds taking over rock/pop music in 1967. The great folk boom that began in 1960 was pretty much out of gas by the time "Folksinger" was released, but then again Van Ronk never lost sight of his original mission statement, recording and performing acoustic folk until a year before his death in 2002.
Even for people who don't usually go for folk music, "Folksinger" is undoubtedly a sterling collection of music. Van Ronk's only accompaniment on the entire album is his acoustic guitar, and the material is all the better for it. Van Ronk's sly rasp breathes life into ancient material such as "You've Been A Good Old Wagon" and "Stackerlee". Most of these songs were already decades old when Van Ronk recorded them, but the intimate performances wash away the years.
Van Ronk's version of "Poor Lazarus" may be the starkest five minutes in his entire cannon. Based on a Biblical story about a rich man and a beggar, "Lazarus" features a dramatic Van Ronk vocal coupled with sparse, devastating guitar. On the other end of the spectrum, "Chicken Is Nice" and "Long John" border on festive, with Van Ronk sounding like he's just found an extra $20 bill in his pocket.
A few decades later some folk music comes off as overly serious, but Van Ronk had the perfect balance of earnestness and soul on "Folksinger". It's the perfect place for the novice folkie to start.
Jon Dawson's album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase Jon's new book "Counterfeit Sauerkraut" at the Free Press office and jondawson.com.