Ghost Town

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An aptly named CD, to the extent that one local (Seattle) reviewer called it "bloodless." Bloodless it's not, but it is remarkably "internal," and occasionally quite melancholy. This is a solo recording, with a little unobtrusive multi-tracking (including banjo on several tracks), and at times it almost sounds like Frisell is playing strictly for his own amusement (but impeccably, of course), sitting on a back porch somewhere and just musically musing. The feeling, and the song selection, is predominantly (although not entirely) "old-timey," and in more than a few spots you could swear you were listening to Doc Watson or Mississippi John Hurt, with Frisell channeling musical ghosts from America's past who whisper about lost loves, lost dreams and lost hopes.....

Of course, one would expect a tune like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" to be melancholy even under the best of circumstances, but there's something about Frisell's understated, desultory approach to the melody of this classic Hank Williams song (he compresses line lengths, rather than drawing them out for dramatic emphasis), which somehow makes the song even sadder. It's as if the musician is almost too sad to play the song, but soldiers on in spite of everything. The CD's tour de force, for me, is the old Carter Family chestnut "Wildwood Flower." Often regarded as a "pretty" love song, its minor key melody reinforces the despair inherent in the lyric of unrequited love, and Frisell manages to create a mood of exquisite sorrow. Frisell also has a little fun with the structure of this piece, though, easing into it obliquely with a long introduction which circles around the signature melody in tantalizing fashion, causing some preliminary striking of the forehead with the hand and exclamations of "wait, I know that tune...."

Frisell's banjo playing is consistent with the overall mood of the CD. The banjo is normally venerated (or maligned) as the centerpiece of breakneck breakdowns (Foggy Mountain and otherwise), but it is also customarily tuned to a minor key, and if it is played slowly and thoughtfully (as Frisell does), it has a kind of forlorn poignancy all its own. Frisell's rendition of "When I Fall in Love," for solo banjo, seems to extend the wistful, idealistic yearning of the lyric - an idealism which could just as easily lead to heartbreak as to romantic bliss. Frisell also demonstrates a deft touch with the blues on several tracks, particularly with "What a World," which has the laconic understatement of a laid-back bluesman like Lonnie Johnson, Ghost Town is not a "show-offy" recording by any stretch of the imagination, but one of Frisell's strengths (and peculiarities) is that, even when he was much younger, he seldom played like he had anything to prove. He just opens the door, tells you that you're welcome to come in, and then commences to play.