Gothic Theatre
Open Road
Some bluegrass bands focus on changing the music, but that’s not what Open Road is after. “We’re not here to reinvent the wheel,” says guitarist and lead singer Bradford Lee Folk. “We’re here to make good music, and to stick to the qualities that make bluegrass different from other music—to what makes this music great.”
The premium Open Road places on tradition-based excellence rather than freewheeling innovation pays off once again on In The Life, their second CD for Rounder and third since the group was formed more than five years ago. With a lineup that includes Folk’s fellow founding member, mandolinist/vocalist Caleb Roberts, and three new players, the Colorado-based quintet muscles through a confident, hard-driving set in which original songs and instrumentals mesh perfectly with country weepers and resurrected bluegrass masterpieces.
In the year and a half since the release of their Rounder debut, Cold Wind, Open Road has passed over the threshold from emerging artists—a category in which they were twice nominated for International Bluegrass Music Association awards (in 2001 and 2002)—to established artists. “We’ve got a band that’s really hitting hard on all cylinders,” says Roberts. “We feel like we’ve come into our own sound in the last year.” And indeed, there’s a new, higher level of confidence, drive and rhythmic precision that animates both up-tempo cuts like the opening “Bald Knob Arkansas,” a Louvin Brothers number learned from California bluegrass pioneer Vern Williams, and more measured numbers like the stately instrumental, “Suwannee River Hoedown.”
A tour schedule that has seen the group’s personal appearances expand steadily beyond its western base has rewarded Open Road with new fans—not only at the bluegrass festivals of the Southeast, but among younger audiences too, at clubs and alternative venues around the country. “I like playing anywhere where we’ve got an appreciative audience,” Roberts says with a laugh. “I guess when we first played in the southeast I was a little scared, wondering how these people who really know bluegrass are going to take this. But we’ve been very well received. And then, on the other hand, we’ve played at places like one in Sacramento, where they had a bar with a music room attached. Some of the hardcore bluegrass folks from the California Bluegrass Association came out to see us. They were looking for chairs, but there weren’t any, because all the young people there were wanting to dance. I think everybody there learned something new. If it’s good music, people are going to like it.”
When the time came to record In The Life, the group readily chose to work once again with producer Sally Van Meter. “Sally Van Meter was living in Boulder when we first met her,” Brad Folk recalls. “She’s from California, and I think she grew up on the hardcore stuff from out there. So I think it was pretty natural that we would hook up with her, since she was in our area, and our friendship grew out of that. And when the time came to record our first album, she was interested in getting into producing, and she’d had a lot of experience in recording. And it made us feel good to work with a friend. We had some different options with this album as far as where to record it and who we could get to produce it, and we stuck with her. She really knows us and our music, and a familiar face is always a good thing to have.”
Recording for the first time without any guests, the group whipped through its sessions with disciplined but spontaneous verve and energy. “A lot of those takes are first takes,” he notes—testimony both to the way in which the songs had been honed through months of road-testing before audiences and to the quintet’s finely-tuned musical empathy.
As on Open Road’s previous CDs, new material from the band occupies an important but not overwhelming place in the collection. “It’s important for the genre to be creative,” says Folk, who contributes three songs to In The Life, “but it’s not a top priority to make sure that my songs are on the album. There are songs that I’ve written that aren’t, because they didn’t fit with the others. We just tried to pick the best songs that we liked and put them into a good, natural kind of progression.” Still, it is no exaggeration to say that “Southern Track” and the other originals, including Keith Reed’s rollicking “Cheyenne Mountain Breakdown,” are well-crafted and meaningful enough to hold their own alongside classics like the mournful “What A Change One Day Can Make” and George Jones’ early gem, “One Is A Lonely Number.”
With its distinctive material, heartfelt vocals and abundance of instrumental fire, In The Life marks a new chapter for Open Road in the group’s quest to make bluegrass that captures the spirit and drive of under-appreciated heroes like Vern Williams, Mac Martin and others who carried the music’s hardcore torch in past decades. More than a profession, it’s a calling that provides their ultimate motivation. “It’s the kind of record I like to listen to,” says Brad with a quiet smile. “It suits my taste in music real well.”
Open Road is:
Bradford Lee Folk, guitar, vocals
Caleb Roberts, mandolin, vocals
Eric Thorin, bass, vocals
Keith Reed, banjo
