So last night as I worked burning, washing and sieving asphalt and its component parts, I listened to two fine folk albums. The first was the latest release from Cal Scott Carved Wood Box and the second was Walk Along John from Canadian mandolin virtuoso John Reischman. Currently, Cal Scott’s album is number 29 on the Folk DJ Chart and Reischman is number 4!
According to his website, Cal Scott is..
a singer/songwriter and composer of music for film and television. A master of many styles, his specialty is scoring to picture: creating the right music to tell the story. In addition to his dramatic orchestrations, he has developed a feel for folk music of many cultures, helping a film establish a sense of place and time.
His résumé is impressive and includes:scoring over fifty documentaries and specials for PBS, fifteen films in permanent installations in national parks and museums, and commercials for Kelloggs, Apple, and Sony, he performs with The Trail Band, an 8 piece folk ensemble, and he performs and records with world renown Irish fiddler, Kevin Burke. Their collaboration led to an album titled Across the Black River, which the New York Times called “…one of the top twelve world music releases of the year,”
Reviewing his releases, I see that there are two albums with Kevin Burke, a two Jazz albums a film score album, which in 2006, this CD won two awards in the Just Plain Folks Music Awards, 4th place in the Celtic Album of the Year, and 5th place in the Celtic Instrumental Song of the Year. (“The Ghosts of Stroma”) There are also albums with The Trail Band!
The top two tracks on the Folk DJ list are: “Carved Wood Box” and “London Town”. I think “Carved Wood Box” is my favorite, but all the other tracks are good too and I think that this album will become more of a favorite with each listen!
