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48th Grammy Award Winner … Best Traditional Folk Album - “Fiddler's Green” [Sugar Hill Records]
For in addition to his own prolific and successful song writing, this child of West Virginia and the WWVA Jamboree has never stopped mining the American music canon for great material. He’s a song sponge. Songs collect and abide in Tim O’Brien’s world as comfortably as family heirlooms. They come from around the world, particularly the American South and Ireland. They morph into new ideas and new songs that update old truths about the human condition. They find expression in O’Brien’s clear-as-ice voice on stages, in recording studios and at home with circles of gifted musical friends. O’Brien’s relationship with songs embodies the very essence of the folk music tradition, always aware that the branches of the musical tree need sap from the roots.
O'Brien was so full of songs when he approached his latest phase of recording that they overwhelmed one album and became two. And yet with Fiddlers Green and Cornbread Nation, his original intent seems to have remained intact.
"I wanted to do the whole spectrum of folk music from one guy singing and playing guitar or fiddle to a full band with electric guitar," O'Brien said. And that’s how the pair came out, like folk music bookends. Fiddlers Green tends toward the intimate and traditional, while Cornbread Nation is a bit funkier and tempo-driven. On both, however, old-time tunes sit comfortably next to originals and a few classic country songs by the likes of Jimmie Rodgers and Harlan Howard. "I could have taken all traditional songs, but I love stuff like 'California Blues' and 'Busted,' which are like folk songs to me, and they fit with the others, and it shows that what is called country music is just another footstep down the same path. Rock and roll, a lot of that is the same too."
Throughout the 1990s, O’Brien’s musical relationships flourished, and he became one of the most prolific collaborators in American roots music. In just his second meeting with emerging songwriter Darrell Scott, the pair wrote "When No Ones Around," which became the title cut of a critically acclaimed 1997 album by Garth Brooks. Later, he and Scott joined forces for Real Time, an intimate but electrifying duo album. Songs from the Mountain teamed O'Brien up with old-time musicians John Herrmann and Dirk Powell on songs inspired by the novel Cold Mountain. He joined West Coast musicians Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, and others, to release NewGrange, an album that melded Philip Aaberg's tasteful piano with a string band to push newgrass in new directions.
And no relationships have been more fruitful than O'Briens friendships with the cream of Celtic acoustic music. In 1999 and 2001, he collaborated with some of Irelands best musicians to create two striking collections of original and traditional songs. On The Crossing and Two Journeys, O'Brien explored his family roots in Ireland, the Irish-American experience and as the Appalachian/Celtic musical dynamic that underlies so much American traditional music. They were regarded by many as world music triumphs.
Tim O’Brien’s latest CD before the dual release of Cornbread Nation and Fiddlers Green was called The Traveller and one couldn’t ask for a more apt description of Tim O'Brien the musician. Make no mistake, as a family man, O'Brien is happily ensconced in Nashville with wife Kit and son Joel. (Son Jackson also lives in town.) But as a musician and a student of music, Tim never sits still and he never gets complacent about his mission as an artist. He’s said many times that his idea of music is really as simple as making something new out of something old. The only real prerequisite for doing that understands the old, and O'Brien has few peers in that respect. He’s a traveller on a journey, and its our boon that he s chosen to do it for a living as well as a hobby.
PLEASE NOTE: the venue comprises both seated and standing space. There are a limited number of tables. These are allocated on a first come first served basis, with priority given to diners. If you’d like a table, please ensure you arrive early (doors open 7pm).
Music starts at 9pm. NO ENTRY AFTER 9.30pm.
