Cahalen Morrison & Eli West
Photo by Ben Robinson
Banjo and mandolin player, and modern king of the road Cahalen Morrison has teamed up once again with guitar playing pal Eli West for a follow-up to their rabidly acclaimed 2010 album The Holy Coming of the Storm. The new album, titled Our Lady Of The Tall Trees, will be released at the end of the month after a show at the Triple Door, then Cahalen and company kick off another tour of the US and UK in support. His years on the road inform native New Mexican/Northwestern transplant Cahalen Morrison’s songwriting style, and his lyrics are more literary work than folk hum-drum. In his travels he was lucky enough to cross paths with Eli West, whose syncopated guitar style offsets their sound, but whose voice is uncannily harmonious with Cahalen’s.
I first heard of Cahalen and Eli from their Joonior Studios videos on YouTube earlier this year. I was instantly in awe of their efficient, approachable, country-bluegrass work, and it turns out the rest of the world is, too. Cahalen and Eli have attracted attention from KEXP to the BBC, and with good reason: their songwriting is classic country, with modern, mystical, meditative lyrics. Their playing style is mature beyond their years, never noodling off into interpretive train wrecks, or nodding off in soporific folk self-appreciation, which is funny since Cahalen often appears lost in his own world on banjo and mandolin. No matter which foggy Scottish glen Cahalen drifts off to in his mind, though, Eli is always there when he wakes, playing flattop box like there’s more than two hands at work on his guitar, and keeping rhythm with a smile and a tap of the toe; another reason Eli is the perfect complement to his style.
For working in such a traditional medium, their catalogue is surprisingly devoid of covers or interpretations. On the new album, they’ve made Townes Van Zandt’s “Loretta” their own. Performed here in two-part harmony, under the spell of Cahalen’s signature smoothly laid-out mandolin style, the song appeared to be an original until halfway through I found out it was a cover. wasn’t their song. It’s a testament to the strength of Cahalen’s songwriting as well that his songs work so well alongside perhaps the most hailed mystic of the genre. The album is filled with highlights, including “Church Street Blues” which sees Eli taking lead vocals for a change, and while songs like “Stone to Sand” and “Our Lady Of The Tall Trees” stand out on the album, they’re simply a different vantage point along a majestic vista, because it’s glorious anywhere you look.
Our Lady Of The Tall Trees is a brooding, haunting album that plays like landscape portraits set to tune. It’s kept from the depths by the tinny happy sounds of banjo, brightly toned mandolin, and excellent strums and bass runs on acoustic guitar. It’s full of mostly happy tales about sad things where the names and probability of occurrence are fluid, but the lesson remains the same. Like their contemporaries William Elliott Whitmore, Ben Sollee, and Greg Brown, they tell us about paths they’ve worn across the vast America of today. It would be easy to call the work of Cahalen and Eli “genuine”, or “old-timey”, but in truth, it’s not. It’s here now; it’s very present, and very real. They do not embody the spirit of country, they are the country, and their music rolls along like the road ahead, accompanied by sunshine and the crests and troughs of waves of golden grass.
Eli and Cahalen are pretty busy getting ready for their upcoming tour, so I dropped them a line via email with some very important questions, which they answer after the jump. Have a look, then make sure and get tickets for their Seattle show on Wednesday night. here:
SJ: Everyone I meet who hears you guys has the same response: "This is great. Why haven't I heard of this before?" Are you surprised by the reception to your music here and abroad?
Cahalen: Well, maybe not surprised, as I've worked really hard crafting my work, and I really take pride in it, so I would say I'm more flattered, and grateful that people are interested and receptive to what we're churning out. That definitely makes it easier to keep writing, playing and doing our thing!
Eli: Not surprising, considering it is folk music. This genre has its own timeline that is relatively hard to speed up. We are also 2 years old as a band, which some would say is young. There is also a geographic constraint. We have spent now 3 trips over to the UK, where with such a small country and more centralized press, building an audience seems to happen a little quicker. Turns out the US is pretty big, with lots of different music markets. We seldom play in Seattle, as this is often our place to catch up on sleep and other important parts of life, so not too surprising there.
SJ: I got almost halfway through "Loretta" on my first listen before I realized it was a Townes Van Zandt song (and I'm a huge fan). Do you feel pressure to honor a song like that, and do you try to make a cover song "your own"?
Cahalen: I don't feel too much pressure, because I really feel like it'll be clear whether it works for you or not. Once you start playing a cover, and getting a feel for it, you know if it’s going to work for you. I think "Loretta" fell right in our pocket, and it was pretty clear from the get go. That being said, I do feel like it is important how you approach covers. You can't just change it and twist it around, and mess with it just for the sake of messing with it, I feel like you have to approach that with a lot of care, and do what you're doing for a good reason.
Eli: There is a strand of thinking in folk music that prefers to keep things as they were, like a time capsule or museum display. There is another strand that thinks the genre will wither if it doesn't stay dynamic, even when choosing to perform someone else's material from years past. I would say we are both of the later persuasion. In choosing to do that song, I imagined it sounding very different from Townes, as his approach was usually solo, loose, and dare I say messy (not to discount his songwriting, that's what I adore about him). So in arranging "Loretta," it seemed natural to tighten it up for brother harmonies and a more straight-forward feel.
SJ: You guys spend a lot of time on the road, what are you listening to while you're out there?
Cahalen: I've been listening a lot to Hank Williams, Dick Gaughan, Roscoe Holcombe, a great Scottish Gaelic singer, Kathleen MacInnes, Jimmy Giuffre's Western Suite.
Eli: A fair amount of jazz (Ron Miles, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell), English and irish folk ballads (Paul Brady, Dick Gaughan, etc.), country (George Jones, etc.), old time (Bruce Molsky, Dirk Powell) and other things. Cahalen would have his own list as well. Also manage to pick up a lot of CDs from folks we play with at festivals, like of recent, Lake Street Dive.
SJ: Our Lady Of The Tall Trees sounds different production wise to me than The Holy Coming Of The Storm. What did you guys do different this time around?
Cahalen: Not too much, really, just the fact that it was just the two of us, and that it was the second time around brought a comfort that we didn't have last time, I think. I mean, we've been playing all of these songs out already for months, so that was a nice net we had to fall back on: just play 'em.
Eli: This time we decided to go just the two of us. We were fortunate to be joined by some of our favorite musicians on the first one, but for our sophomore record that to just do our live show. The record is live, and with only 2 voices and 2 instruments there really wasn't a lot of post-tracking work to be done. This one is perhaps more bare bones than the first. Cahalen's songwriting makes up the majority of material on both records, though I went for a few more leads and songs on the new one. Cahalen has also been listening to a lot of classic country in-between the two records, and I think that shows on this one, especially with his song "Like a Stone." That said, we did hit repeat on a few things, including the instrument trading, having Matt Flinner help produce, and having Aaron Youngberg mix and engineer.
SJ: Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to (or not looking forward to) in the coming tour?
Cahalen: Should be a good one. One highlight will definitely be the string of shows we're doing with Tim O'Brien's family band, as he's been a major influence for both of us for a LONG time. That'll be exciting. Definitely not looking forward to my red-eye from Seattle to Boston, layover, then prop-plane it down to DC, then drive 3 hours to our gig.
Eli: We get to open some shows for TIm O'Brien in September down in CA (Freight and Salvage, etc.), who we would both count as a major influence on our playing and singing. Also, the Strawberry Music Festival, Bristol Rhythm and Roots fest, and some shows on the East Coast all will prove to be a great time. There is also a fantastic setting in Western Mass where MassMoca (museum of conteporary art) has converted an old mill into a museum and performance space. They are hosting a festival called FreshGrass, which will definitely be loads of fun. But our hometown Triple Door show will no doubt be a ringer as well.
SJ: You guys seem like sandwich guys to me. Favorite American food? Favorite European food?
Cahalen: You read me like a book, man. God, I love sandwiches. Just ask Eli. New Mexican food is up there, and as for European food, any pickled fish that you can throw at me.
Eli: Actually don't mind haggis! We both tried it last November, and it was pretty good. The curry in UK is generally fail safe. I just had some reindeer in Sweden that was pretty stellar, as well.
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