Thanks to director Adam Vollick for turning me on to yet another classy Daniel Lanois project.
Daniel Lanois
Just ran across these clips when surfing a U2 blog. As many of you know, Daniel Lanois is the masterful producer behind such greats as Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Aaron Neville, the Slingblade soundtrack, U2, Peter Gabriel and many more.
What I like so much about these clips is Lanois’ demonstration of his deep connection with the emotional and spiritual current that runs through music and sound. You can see this especially in his coaching of the drummer in the first clip. Plus, his parting comment at the end of each clip really makes you think about what music and performance is all about. Well said Mr. Lanois.
Connecting the Dots
I love the process of connecting musical dots. As you know, I’ve been following with great interest the evolution of Daniel Lanois‘ band project, Black Dub. In following the project, I’ve come to really enjoy the vocal performance of Dub’s singer, Trixie Whitley. It’s amazing to hear such a full, sonorous, emotional vocal performance come from someone who is seems outwardly delicate. See if you agree:
My understanding is that she is quite the songwriter and solo performer. I look forward to exploring more of Trixie’s work.
So from Black Dub, I followed the dots to Trixie Whitley. And from Trixie, I have started to connect the dots to her late father, Chris Whitley. It’s still early days in my exploration of Chris’ work, but I was immediately struck upon hearing his collaboration with DJ Logic on the album Rocket House. To hear the alt.blues stylings of Whitley on his National Reso-Phonic, combined with Logic’s beats is truly inspiring. Whitley’s work is equally gritty, sexy, spiritual, pleading and surreal. His songs are challenging and unconventional. I’ve had time to preview and handful of Whitley tunes, and look forward to digging in much deeper.
See/hear for yourself here: (sorry for the goofy VJ at the beginning)
So, thank you Daniel Lanois, for helping me connect some big musical dots.
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Posted in Commentary, Influences