City of Refuge

by Abigail Washburn

Overview

City of Refuge, the ambitious third album by singer, songwriter, and banjoist Abigail Washburn, extends the reach of both the stripped-down roots sounds on Song of the Traveling Daughter and the more musically exploratory Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet. She's been seasoned by continually playing with stellar musicians and opening herself to musical traditions from those of the Deep South and the British Isles to folk traditions from Asia, jazz, and rock. This set showcases her singing and lyrics up front. Produced and mixed by Tucker Martine, City of Refuge boasts an extensive and impressive list of players and singers -- including Bill Frisell, Jeremy Kittel, Viktor Krauss, guzheng master Wu Fei, and Kai Welch, to name a few. In Martine, Washburn found the perfect collaborator: he understands implicitly how far-reaching her songs are; he assists her in cracking wide the conventions of traditions while showcasing their influence with reverence and grace. The title track opens with her clawhammer banjo-style playing "old-time mountain music," but quickly shape-shifts through country gospel, folk-blues, open droning tones, and shimmering rock. The orchestration on the heartbreaking "Bring Me My Queen" is spacious with lilting piano; Kittel's fiddle provides soft textural elements that let Washburn's voice articulate the deeply poetic lyric. Rayna Gellert's fiddle, Frisell's electric guitar, and a pedal steel adorn "Last Train," as Washburn and Welch harmonize the loneliness of loss and longing in her lyric. "Burn Thru" opens with what seems like a coda with an orchestral lushness that almost reaches a crescendo before it all disappears, just before Washburn, backed by acoustic guitars and her banjo, declares her resilience and her ability to transcend: "There's shadows in my tracks/I'm not lookin' back at the rest of you...I'm not goin' down with the rest of you." The musical abstraction and sheer beauty on City of Refuge is born out best on "Dreams of Nectar." Its root is an a cappella Appalachian ballad, but before long, Wu Fei's dreamy guzheng (a zither-like instrument) enters, and is layered upon by a humming choir, chirping birds, and even tempered brass instruments. Yet, even as the elements gel, they slowly dissolve into a gauzy haze, leaving the listener in reverie -- which is shattered by the stomping country gospel of "Divine Bell." The set closes with the haunting "Bright Morning Stars," a hymn that contains choir drones resembling the chanted throat-sung prayers of Tibetan monks. City of Refuge reveals that Abigail Washburn has grown exponentially as an artist. She's created a visionary American music that extends its traditions as it embraces others, free of borderlines. City of Refuge shines from West to East, from South to North -- and beyond. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2011
Label:	Rounder
UPC:	0011661328914

Tracks

1. Prelude
2. City of Refuge
3. Bring Me My Queen
4. Chains
5. Ballad of Treason
6. Last Train
7. Burn Thru
8. Corner Girl
9. Dreams of Nectar
10. Devine Bell
11. Bright Morning Stars

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Abigail Washburn   Primary Artist,Vocals
Neil Anderson   Choir/Chorus
Bill Frisell   Guitar (Electric)
Kenny Malone   Drums,Percussion
Chris Funk   Pedal Steel,Bowed Dulcimer,Guitar (Electric)
Jeremy Kittel   Viola,Violin
Tucker Martine   Drums,Percussion
Wu Fei   Guzheng
Rayna Gellert   Fiddle
Carl Broemel   Pedal Steel,Guitar (Electric)
Kai Welch   Piano,Guitar,Trumpet,Keyboards,Pump Organ,Tongue Drum,Choir Conductor
Carla Parisi   Choir/Chorus
Viktor Krauss   Double Bass,Bass (Electric)
Jamie Dick   Drums,Percussion
Annalisa Tornfelt   Fiddle
Nathaniel Smith   Cello
Morgan Jahnig   Bass
Dabney Morris   Choir/Chorus
James Wallace   Choir/Chorus
Joe Murphy   Tuba
Yiliqi   Throat Singing
Kevin Dailey   Guitar,Vocals,Choir/Chorus
Ketch Secor   Guitar,Vocals
Ben Elkins   Choir/Chorus
Bobby Funk   Choir/Chorus
Casey Miekle   Choir/Chorus
Elizabeth Pullum   Choir/Chorus
Harry Skeen   Choir/Chorus
Jacob Gordon   Choir/Chorus
Leslie Arney   Choir/Chorus
Reverend Robert Hardy   Choir/Chorus
Veta Bates Allen   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

Traditional   Composer
Jeremy Kittel   String Arrangements
Tucker Martine   Mixing,Arranger,Engineer,Producer
Kai Welch   Composer
Abigail Washburn   Arranger,Composer
Tommy Hans   Composer
Erica Harris   Artwork
James Wallace   Composer
Kevin Dailey   Assistant Engineer
Ketch Secor   Composer
Ricardo Alessio   Package Design