If it weren’t for a concert review today in the New York Times, I probably never would have known of the tour collaboration of the sultry and oft-tortured singer-songwriter Fiona Apple and the neo-bluegrass outfit Nickel Creek. As the article says, match ups such as this one do not initially seem to be a natural fit.
As it turns out, the collaboration is not nearly as random as it might at first appear. Both Nickel Creek and Apple frequent and perform at the LA club Largo, helmed and made famous by singer-songwriter and producer extrordinaire, Jon Brion. Stylistically, at least on the surface, Apple and the trio comprised of Chris Thile on mandolin, Sara Watkins on violin and Sean Watkins couldn’t be further into the extremes. She’s dark, they’re bright. They’re unfairly lumped into jamband scene while she’s associated with the pop scene.
But the common ground they have found — with Nickel Creek serving as Apple’s musical accompaniment — reveals unrealized potential, and perhaps a new direction for both. Both artists have a shared love of old-fashioned approaches to songwriting and phenomenal instrumental prowess. Perhaps it shows that the boundaries of genres are increasingly obsolete.
So far it seems audience recordings are difficult to come by, but Nickel Creek has encouraged people to upload their amateur audience videos to YouTube and their MySpace page. One can hope that a live DVD or an album is in the works. I missed them in Baltimore a few weeks back, but perhaps a roadtrip this weekend to Philly is in order. If you cannot catch them on tour, check out their stripped down performances of ‘You Belong To Me’ and ‘Paper Bag’ below.
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these are great!
More and more I am starting to revisit this style of music again for the first time since high school… I love that ancient style of song structure found on “You Belong To Me” and also how that same style is applied to an existing song like “Criminal” or “Paper Bag.” Spend some time tooling around on the other videos that pop up at the end of these clips and you can find many of Apple’s classic songs reworked.