The Rose & The Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad

by

Various Artists

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This collection is notable for a few reasons. The like-named book, featuring essays, memoirs and short-stories from a number of musicians, writers and artists provides the script for which these tracks constitute a performance. As a stand-alone, this CD paints a rich history of the American ballad, drawing a thread through works from 1928 to the present day. And as a new release, this disc features purpose-made recordings by Snakefarm, John Mellencamp and The Handsome Family that illuminate new sides of well-worn tunes.

As another reviewer has commented, the single-mindedness and length of this disc (78+ minutes) feels like a college radio DJ whose meticulously planned theme set has gone about 45 minutes too long. On the other hand, the track selections finely mix the obscure and well-known, bringing the former to the foreground and recontextualizing the latter. Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve," for instance, finds a link to tradition that broadens its original appeal as teen pop, and Marty Robbins' "El Paso" strengthens its bond to the roots of American storytelling - rather than the Western nostalgia with which it was originally recorded.

The three newly recorded tracks are all quite noteworthy. Snakefarm creates a modern-raga from the traditional "Little Maggie," John Mellencamp weighs heavily on the death and grief underlying "Wreck of the Old '97," and Paul Muldoo explores the tradition of rewriting with "Blackwatertown," rewriting "The Streets of Laredo," which rewrote "St. James Infirmary," which rewrote "The Unfortunate Rake," which rewrote "The Bard of Armagh."

At this length, the set is a bit taxing to track through in its entirety. Still, the strength of the selections provides a wealth of musical tradition whether played in order or sampled for favorites.