My Hands Are On Fire and Other Love Songs

by Old Man Luedecke

Overview

Well, he dresses like an old man, and his voice is leaden with world-weariness beyond his years, but Juno-award winning Canadian banjo player and songwriter Old Man (Chris) Luedecke has springtime in his fingertips. Luedecke is musically a traditionalist more than a revisionist, and his Americana is one part bluegrass sprightliness and one part heart-wrenching Appalachian lament. On this fourth full-length release, he continues the run of excellent songs and expert pickin' that he started on his 2005 debut. Close attention rewards listeners with gem-filled lyrics -- Luedecke updates his rootsy songs by pairing them with clever and decidedly modern words, with a miniaturist's eye for details about cell phones, digital watches, and love gone right and wrong. "Macchu Picchu" has a wry, descending hook that highlights rueful lyrics of geography-challenged lovers. "My Love Comes Stepping Up the Stairs" is a layered new-love song with a surprisingly mournful sound (and a violin hook that, probably unconsciously, echoes the riff from the Angel television show theme song). On the upbeat album closer "Inchworm," he sings of hard-won hope: "If I stay a springtime green/It's through a thousand dirty falls." Here's wishing Luedecke a thousand more dirty falls, if they result in music this sweet. ~ Paula Carino

Product Details

Release Date:	03/16/2010
Label:	Black Hen Music / Fontana North
UPC:	0775020994522
Rank:	201620

Tracks

1. Lass Vicious
2. The Rear Guard
3. My Love Comes Stepping Up the Stairs
4. Woe Betide the Doer of the Deed
5. Mountain Plain
6. Foreign Tongue
7. The Palace is Golden
8. Machu Picchu
9. Caney Fork River
10. Down the Road
11. Inchworm

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Old Man Luedecke   Primary Artist
John Raham   Drums
Tim O'Brien   Fiddle,Vocals,Mandolin,Guitar (Acoustic)
Chris Luedecke   Banjo,Vocals,Marxophone,Guitar (Acoustic)
Steve Dawson   Organ,Celeste,Mellotron,Percussion,Pump Organ,Pedal Steel,Weissenborn,Lap Steel Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String)
Keith Lowe   Bass

Technical Credits

Teresa Bergen   Cover Art
Chris Luedecke   Composer
Willie P. Bennett   Composer
Steve Dawson   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Graemme Brown   Mastering
Sheldon Zaharko   Engineer