Customer Reviews

Grand Forks

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't prepared for the absolute beauty of this disc form North Dakota's finest. Tom's focused on this record and he really shines on this collection/concept record/song cycle. From the homeless drifter to a child who accidentally shoots his friend, these heart breaking tales all center around the time of the 1997 flood?
My mother grew up in Fargo and told me many tales of the Red River and how she wreck havoc on the folks living near it's shore.
I'm glad Tom's decide to honor his "hometown" with this concept record. High points are his duet's with John Doe ("Fork In The Road") and Hilary Hahn ("Blue Part Of The Windshield"). The latter's violin solo is one of the most beautiful passages/moments in popular song, I've heard in years and whether it was written for the song or not, it works perfectly with the melancholy tempo and emotion of the song. As a whole, I don't think Tom's put out a finer collection of tunes.

tom brousseau has ingeniously and with a marvelously insouciant intelligence created an entirely original new musical genre--somewhere between pete seeger/woody guthrie and hank williams/lefty frizzell/hank snow. the grand forks flood references are reminiscent of the ambience from some passages of Cormack McCarthy's Sutree.

Just a short review. I just discovered Tom Brosseau. Everyone in America should own this CD. It is brilliant. Beyond brilliant.