Ghost Repeater
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Artist:
With a new release "Cold Satellite" gracing the airwaves, I was prompted to dust off one of my favorite Foucault releases "Ghost Repeater". Perhaps it is the title track itself which works perfectly for this time of year, but more so, I think, it is the incredible imagery that Jeff brings to his lyrics.
And, being a member of the Bo Ramsey posse (whom I've posted on several times), you know this is quality tunage...
http://www.jeffreyfoucault.com/
Holed up in Iowa City for the coldest week of the year 2006, Jeffrey Foucault teamed with legendary blues guitar player and producer Bo Ramsey (Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams) to create Ghost Repeater, an album at the crossroads between love and lament, exploring the hopefulness of new love and the seasickness of contemporary American living.
Ghost Repeaters are empty radio stations scattered around the country to re-broadcast demographically tailored playlists, endless echoes of American market culture, from thousands of miles away. Epidemic sameness, big-box stores, and the retail news cycle of ghost prisoners and God on Our Side create the context in which the songs on Ghost Repeater unfold a story of love and uncertainty.
Written over the course of a year in which Foucault married, Ghost Repeater juxtaposes a personal narrative of hope and joyfulness against the wider story of the times, in a series of travelogues and dreamscapes. Words like bloom and fade, truth and mercy, dream and memory recur through the album to create a sort of grammar, a palette of colors that Foucault and Ramsey merge with dark washes of electric guitar and vocals hushed or plaintive, in a visionary portrait of modern Americana.
It's a natural pairing - Ramsey's cool economy of phrase the perfect compliment to Foucault's elegant lines and weatherbeaten drawl - and the recording itself something of a homecoming, with Foucault traveling back to the Midwest from Massachusetts where he's lived the past few years, and bringing the songs he'd written home to record them with Ramsey's longtime collaborators.
In addition to Bo Ramsey's inimitable sound Foucault has the backing of Rick Cicalo and Steve Hayes (Greg Brown) on rhythm, along with special guest appearances by Iowa legend Dave Moore on harp and accordion, Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Richard Buckner) on pedal steel, and Kris Delmhorst on backing vocals.
Against the broadcast echoes of an America long gone, Foucault lays out the particulars of love in a country contending with its own ghost. In songs of love and empire, dream and memory, Ghost Repeater delivers the honesty of country, the rawboned desperation of blues, and the simplicity of folk to achieve a document that's timeless and poignant.
1. Ghost Repeater 5:10
2. Americans In Corduroys 4:49
3. I Dream An Old Lover 4:14
4. One For Sorrow 3:52
5. Train To Jackson 4:17
6. One Part Love 4:07
7. Wild Waste And Welter 5:12
8. City Flower 3:38
9. Tall Grass In Old Virginny 3:27
10. Mesa, Arizona 5:05
11. Appeline 3:47
http://www.jeffreyfoucault.com/
Locating MOG account...
Comments (10)
Hey, I'm givin' you a thumbs up, but also this (...cuz it sent me there as well...)
I follow that advice in the a.m., but switch to green tea after noon. that way I can equal out the idiocy...
Love it, Scotfree! And Rummy, yours is quite good too.
hiya Rex, hey I tried your suggestion...to no avail.
peaceful easy feeling. Loved "Train to Jackson" for obvious reasons.
That sucks, Scotfree. If I can help change that, I will. I can contact David privately and see what happens. No promises, since he can choose to honor it or not. If I get somewhere with it, I'll let you know.
yowsa!
I was thoroughly enjoying this selection right out of the chute, but when "Appeline" rolled out, I was filled with emotion, knocked to the ground and a tear welled up in my eye. Wowzer, this is a gem. Many thanks . . .
Jeff is a talent, no doubt.
Glad u liked!