Nashville’s Eric Brace has teamed up with fellow singer-songwriter Karl Straub to write a “folk opera” based on the story behind “Sweet Betsy From Pike,” one of the most durable folk songs to come out of the California Gold Rush. They enlisted a major cast of alternative country, Americana, folk and rock standouts to bring it to life on Hangtown Dancehall. They include Kelly Willis, Tim O’Brien, Jason Ringenberg, Wesley Stace, Darrell Scott, and Andrea Zonn. Among the players are some of Brace’s regular collaborators — Jen Gunderman, Peter Cooper and Pat McInerney — as well Fats Kaplin and the late great Mike Auldridge. The result is a beautiful album, produced by Brace’s Red Beet Records, that comes complete with a colorful 24-page booklet with lyrics and credits, lovely woodcut-type illustrations, and also a written narrative to fill in the story’s gaps between the songs. All 22 of them.
A good test for a project like this is whether the songs hold up on their own, and for the most part these do. Among the best and most sturdy are “Afternoons Gone Blind” sung by Straub, a fine acoustic country shuffle in which a fellow named Walter looks back on a life he feels was wasted; “From Pearl River To Gold Mountain,” a ballad with verses in a pentatonic mode sung by Andrea Zonn as a young Chinese woman brought against her will to work in California; Brace’s “I Know A Bird” in which Ike longs for the missing Betsy; the haunting “King Midas” in which Darrell Scott sings of a man’s life ruined by good luck; “Elizabeth, Precious And Rare” beautifully sung by Tim O’Brien as Jeremiah, a musician who falls in love with Betsy; and those by Kelly Willis, who is one of my favorite singers ever.
Willis’s songs include “Pike County Rose” in which Betsy declares her love for Ike as she stands at a grave she thinks is his, and “Smile And A Little Skin,” about the loneliness of a performer’s life. She also does a sweet duet with Brace after Ike and Betsy are reunited called “So Many Miles. There are a couple of short vignettes that I’d love to see expanded into full songs: “If You Don’t Know Me” another Willis-Brace duet, and the sad Willis solo “Come Back, Isaac.”
Here’s Kelly Willis singing “Smile And A Little Skin.”
The players and singers are top-notch, the songs are well-written, and if you string them all together they tell a poignant story that puts flesh on the dry bones of history. Kudos to Brace, Straub and crew for bringing this vision to life. Hangtown Dancehall is available from Red Beet Records store. The booklet and more info are available at www.hangtowndancehall.com.
Reed Beet, 2013
