Country Was

Today's Music of the Day is the Avett Brothers' Country Was. This music came to me by way of eMusic, at the recommendation of a friend.

I'm not sure where the name Country Was comes from, but it's at least half accurate; this is a definite bluegrass album. It's short - only seven or eight songs - and pretty easygoing. The piano and banjo seem to be the most prominent instruments here; the vocal suit the pastoral instrumentation fairly well. The lyrics and song structure are pretty basic, just simple good-timey backwoods songs to be found here. Sometimes the instrumentation is nice, but the old bluegrass harmonies were not far short of grating.

This isn't a terrible album, in the sense that terrible albums are usually more soundtracks to bare-navel-and-cleavage walking music videos than actual music intended for interested listening. However, it's overly twangy, without much depth or change of mood. I'm willing to admit that the Avett Brothers are not getting much of a fair shake from me, as this EP might not be the best introduction to a band with a sizable back catalog. Truthfully, though, this made me want to listen to more Calexico or the Sadies more than anything.

So, Country Was, nice enough in its own way, but not something I could recommend.

In Other News:
The writing in this post was pretty lazy, but it probably reflects my enthusiasm about the subject matter. You'll have to forgive me if this post didn't have the energy that some of my recent entries (Explosions in the Sky, et al) had.

I'm going to the YMCA today for exercise, and I'm pretty excited. My 'office' gym is convenient, but it certainly doesn't have the free weights that the Y has. To be continued...