American Epic Sessions: Laying Down Tunes, the Old School Way

There will be no Pro Tools used to doctor these recordings. Each take is inscribed directly onto disk. There will also be a hard stop at just under four minutes. It has been decades (nearly a century) since records were made this way, but producers T Bone Burnett and Jack White revived the practice for their three-part PBS-BBC special, American Epic. They invited some of the biggest names in contemporary Americana music into their retro-studio to record era-appropriate tunes in The American Epic Sessions (promo here), which premieres this Tuesday on PBS.

The Scully recording lathe produced all the hit records of the early 1920s, but there were no original extant systems left in existence. However, intrepid recording engineer Nick Bergh managed to assemble one from vintage parts. It is an awesome spectacle and a rare opportunity for artists like Taj Mahal to record on the same equipment that immortalized their heroes.

The system is pulley-driven, powered by gravity and a hundred-and-five-pound weight. Sound goes in the iconic Western Electric microphone and comes out on the grooves of the master. It requires entirely different studio practices, but it is as authentic as it gets.

As you would hope, many of the artists are inspired by the setting and circumstances, most definitely Taj Mahal, who lays down a passionately raw rendition of Charley Patton’s “High Water Everywhere” that reverberates with recent memories of Katrina and Sandy. Likewise, Beck’s “Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods” required at least thirteen takes, but the primal power of the stripped down final was worth the effort.

Easily the biggest surprise is the contemporary vibe Nas (finally appearing in a good documentary) and White’s house band give to the Memphis Jug Band’s “On the Road Again,” bringing out the gangster rap sensibilities in the 1928 classic. Rhiannon Giddens also connects with all the earthiness of Victoria Spivey’s “One Hour Mama,” circa 1937. These tunes are ninety-years-old or older, yet they would carry parental advisory stickers if they were released new today.

A few artists contributed new simpatico tunes, including Elton John and his longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin. “Two Fingers of Whiskey,” recorded as a duet with White, is still completely in keeping with the spirit of the sessions, incorporating blues licks we never knew John had. He ought to add it to his regular set list, because it is surprisingly cool.

Ashley Monroe and the Americans truly sound like they are channeling 1920 Appalachia during “Jubilee.” The Avett Brothers similarly start a stirring “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” but they do not get a chance to properly finish, because the strap holding the weight breaks. Continuing the inclusiveness of Epic, the sessions also feature very nice performances of Mexican and Hawaiian standards, as well as the Lost Bayou Ramblers keeping it real on “Allons à Lafayete.” Even though Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard are meant to be the big finale, they are almost anti-climactic compared to some of the stuff that came before them.

Granted, the American Epic Sessions are a bit inconsistent, but you can’t blame the repertoire. If there is one thing we can say about these tunes it’s that they have stood the test of time. Most of the artists appreciate that fact and display an intuitive understanding of why these songs retain such potency. Recommended for fans of American roots music, The American Epic Sessions premieres this Tuesday (6/6) on PBS.

Axe Love: It Might Get Loud

If a rock doc doesn’t get loud, fans will want their money back. However, some of the more interesting moments of the great guitar summit featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White, are in fact relatively quiet. Indeed, all three rock stars prove engagingly eloquent when discussing their instruments in Davis Guggenheim’s It Might Get Loud (trailer here), opening in New York and Los Angeles this Friday.

Loud’s concept is nearly foolproof: get together three rock guitarists with legit credibility as musicians to discuss music and jam. Each man is at a slightly different place in life, but all share a love of guitars. Former Zeppelin and Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page is a rock legend with nothing left to prove, yet he still has a zest for music. As the lead guitarist of U2, The Edge is currently at the pinnacle of the music business. Having attained some measure of commercial and critical success as part of the duo The White Stripes, as well as a reputation for eccentricity, White hopefully has a long, interesting career ahead of him.

While their harmony vocals on “The Weight” will not become the stuff of the legend, they show an easy rapport when talking about and through their axes. Of course, the three guitarists clearly come to rock, but the deep delta blues lurks beneath the surface of Loud, bubbling up during White’s sequences. Since the White Stripes previously covered “Death Letter,” their fans might already know Son House is the guitarist’s greatest formative inspiration. Watching him listen to the blues legend’s “Grinnin’ in Your Face” is quite an endearing moment for the garage rocker.

Before the summit, Loud shows each musician on his home turf, sometimes revisiting the sites of pivotal moments in their musical lives. Page might have the best reminisces, having played on some pretty diverse studio gigs before becoming a rock star, even including Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger session. Now he looks like a silver-maned English barrister, who ought to have a Dickensian name like “Gogglesworthy.” He can still play though.

White also displays some real down home charm, playing an endearing rendition of “Sitting On Top of the World” with his nine year-old son Little Jack. However, the cerebral Edge’s penchant for electronic effects and sound board tinkering comes across as a bit bloodless and premeditated. After all, isn’t rock supposed to be a little ragged round the edges?

Guggenheim, the director of An Inconvenient Truth, wisely forgoes the PowerPoint presentations and junk science in Loud. His strategy of using their music as a means of getting the artists to reveal their personalities works more often than not. Though White’s inclusion with the two more established artists might seem a bit questionable, he delivers some of the film’s more entertaining moments.

Ultimately, Loud might be a film for the considerable fan bases of the three artists’ respective bands, but it has an infectious guitar love that should hold the interest of wider audiences, even throwing several bones to die-hard blues fans. It is a pleasant music documentary, even for those who are not hardcore rockers. It opens Friday (8/14) at the Sunshine and AMC Empire 25 Theaters.