Hits from Tin Can Alley

Eric Anderson brings his songbook to Providence

by Bob Gulla

Greenwich Village folk icon and rather mysterious expatriate Eric Andersen comes to Rhode Island for a rare and unlikely visit. The singer-songwriter, who has been making a home in Norway for the past few decades, brings his guitar and impressive songbook to Stone Soup this Saturday in what is sure to be the folk music event of the season.

In addition to a couple vital reissues, including Violets of Dawn and the 1973 classic Blue River, Andersen has a new album to peddle, aptly titled You Can't Relive the Past (on Appleseed Records). Produced by Andersen with liner notes by Anthony DeCurtis, the recording features a luminous lineup leavened with guests like Lou Reed, Lucy Kaplansky, and cellist Erik Friedlander. But the real story on this project is Andersen's backing band. He may have earned his deserved reputation as a singer-songwriter in the mold of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, but Andersen has certainly defied expectations this time: he ventured down to Mississippi to record with a gaggle of old juke joint musicians. The cast on the record includes drummer Sam Carr, guitarist James "Super Chikan" Johnson, all gritty Delta inveterates who recorded for the legendary Fat Possum label. The first question would be"why"?

"There are many different ways to make a record," he says from his home in Norway. "When you're younger you try to tell everyone what to do. As you get older you get people who are so good you don't have to talk about it at all, when you're recording or playing. The challenge in that is that it's like cooking. When you're putting ingredients in, you have to decide on the seasonings. How much of the drummer, how much guitar. It becomes a chemistry thing and the unpredictable factor of the result is the surprise."

On the new album, Andersen decided to allow his Delta dudes to do what they do best: improvise on the blues tip. "It was great to see how they played off each other, and the surprises that resulted."

Unfortunately, Andersen couldn't airlift his blues compadres to Providence with him for the gig -- many of them don't fly or leave the area. But he will have some of his new songs with him, adapted to solo acoustic guitar, when he arrives. "I'll do things from all periods," he says,"from the early days to middle period, all different times. I'll probably emphasize the last two albums, but I still enjoy playing stuff like `Thirsty Boots' and `Violets at Dawn.' " Rhode Islanders would be lucky to hear these classics live. Andersen rarely tours the States, let alone find himself in the basement of the Gloria Dei Church in Providence.

If you cross your fingers, or you don't mind shouting requests, Andersen might even play a cut or two off his justifiably acclaimed albums with Jonas Fjeld and the recently deceased Rick Danko, the first of which, Danko, Fjeld, Andersen, saw release in 1993. "Rick and I wrote stuff together for a new album [before he died]," says Andersen. "I really enjoyed that material because it was real harmony-based stuff. I'd like to have Dylan do a couple of those tracks. Though I don't get to see him much anymore; he's moving all the time." Indeed.

Andersen's long absence from the American folk scene prevented him from maintaining the kind of success he truly deserves. While away, his albums fell out of print and his profile was reduced to zero. But in 1989, he recorded the fine Ghosts In the Road, and began a long comeback that finds his material and his profile more relevant than ever. "I'm happy with most of the work I've done," he admits. "I've been lucky from a musical standpoint, but not from a sales standpoint. A lot of the stuff is in print now, which wasn't the case two years ago."

Today, Andersen's artistry, like those of his colleagues Dylan and Tom Rush, have remained unparalleled since his earliest days. "When I started writing I had the idea that I wanted to get it right the first time," he says."I can still go back and sing those old songs with no problem. Most of them, anyway."

TWANG THANG. Country music isn't exactly tops around here the way it is in, say, Cody, Wyoming, and big-name hat acts don't make it to these parts too often. But that doesn't mean folks around here don't listen to that glorious twang. In fact, there's a pretty active music community in Rhode Island looking to give the country style a more prominent name around the state. One of the biggest proponents of that style, Country Junction, took great strides in putting country music in Rhode Island just a little closer to the map.

Paul Giammarco, a lifetime resident of Rhode Island, wrote in to "Local Anesthesia" with some great news. His band recently competed in a national competition out in Vegas against twangy bands from all over the country. The event itself was sponsored by the Country Music Organizations of America. "After it was all said and done," reports Giammarco proudly, "we won Band of the Year, Vocal Band of the Year, CD and Song of the Year." But that's not all. Seems the Vegas judges couldn't get enough of the Rhody bucks' downhome flavor. "Individually, I won Male Vocalist and Instrumentalist (Bass) Player of the year and our guitarist Ron Lee won Songwriter of the Year." All of the awards came in the New Country category.

"I know what you're thinking," needles Giammarco,"steel guitars, fiddles, twang and tears. But the band is high energy and polished, with guitars, bass, and drums and everybody sings. Our sound is what I like to call `Rhode Island Country,' a blend of R&B, rockabilly, blues, classic and southern rock. We cover all types of country music and mix in a fair amount of originals and classic rock." Apparently, the New England entry got its fair share of ribbing, but Country Junction got in the last whoop and holler."The judges liked it enough to vote us winners in every category we entered in!"

Country Junction will peform at Bobby G's inWakefield on Friday.

WANDERING EYE. Apologies for dropping the ball on publicizing the Safari benefit/victory celebration at Lupo's. My confusion, my bad. The latest, if you haven't heard is that, according to Safari lawyer John Dineen, a court decision made late last Monday ruled the Safari will be able to stay put at least until the end of this year. Dineen says a judge ruled that landlord Stanley Weiss failed to provide the five days notice for eviction that is required in the lease. It's a brief but triumphant reprieve, though the year's gonna be up before you know it.

In related news, Shawn Wallace and a few kindly folks in the new Providence Artists United organization just served up a great new website http://www.provartsunited.org/. The site arose as a byproduct of the Safari controversy and will continue to serve an important purpose for the ever-growing indie arts and music community. In its mission statement the site in part intends to"find some solutions and cooperation by pooling the genuinely diverse and impressive resources of a community that has been too fractured for too long." Sounds good to us.

If you haven't heard of it by now, P-Squared Productions have been getting this cool thing together merging the talents of local filmmakers with a live, improvised soundtrack. You missed the last one, it happened back on the 25th and featured members of PIS, the L.U.V.s, Sandra Gibson, Jean Walton, Ryan Rooney, Dave Pearlin, and a few film students. The way it works is that cellulloid folks show their short films and musical folks provide a live soundtrack!(Past soundtracks have included live music, audience ad-libbed dialogue, amplified prank phone calls.) They're already rounding up talent for the April installment, so if you or anyone else you know is interested in getting in on it, contact the girls at P-Squared.

In another show worth mentioning, husband and wife team Sue Garner and Rick Brown, two of the more important indie rock musicians of the last decade and a half, are coming into town for a show on Saturday at AS220. Garner and Brown have recorded both solo and together under a variety of names, including Run On, Les Batteries, the Shams, Peach Cobbler and Fish and Roses and have recorded for hip labels like Matador, Ajax, and Thrill Jockey.

Bob Gulla can be reached at b_gulla@yahoo.com.