Hinterland

Old Man Luedecke | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 14, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CDBY
• ASIN: B000BUYHR6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,173 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New year's resolution. Learn the Banjo and buy another CD, January 4, 2011

By 

MountainMan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hinterland (Audio CD)

I love this cd. I have been listening to it for days now. Inside the very heart of me there are songs that play constantly and this cd is those songs and dreams leaking into the world through the art of a finely picked banjo. I heard three of the songs on Pandora and loved all three which was enough to get me to purchase the cd.

Initially there were a few of the songs that I felt like I had just listened to but now after listening to the cd a number of times and I have a pretty good feel for the words, I love to listen and I love to sing and soon (new year's resolution) I will love to play hopefully a few of them.

Especially love track 1 (I quit my job) track 2 (Roustabout) track 7 (Quiet Creek) track 10 (Notes from a banjo underground) and track 11(I am a rich man).

If you like the banjo and have a bit of a wild mountain heart and a love for the simple life, buy this cd.

Funny side note: Track one (I quit my job) says basically get rid of all your stuff. I totally think that is valid unless you mean this cd. I love it.

p.s. my brother loves it too, and that's not always easy to come by.

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative, pure banjo goodness!, December 21, 2011

By 

Diggity (MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hinterland (Audio CD)

A word to those who may have found Old Man Luedecke because of his reputation as a banjo player: This is not bluegrass music. If you're into Scruggs-style, blazing fast, loud, jangly banjo rolls, this 'aint it. Neither is it Bela Fleck style virtuoso, nouveau-classical, jazzy kind of banjo playing. OML plays an open-back banjo in predominantly clawhammer style. Open back banjos are less loud, and have a warmer, plunkier sort of sound, as opposed to banjos with a resonator on back (which are favored by bluegrass players). The clawhammer style of picking is a very old method, in which the strings are picked on the downstroke with the back of the index or middle fingernail. Most guitarists, other sting players, and even many banjo players have never heard of it, and would consider it a bizarre way to play a stringed instrument, but the clawhammer method was likely developed by rural poor musicians who beat their hands up at their day jobs in the coal mines or laying railroad track. They lacked the dexterity for 3-finger picking as most musicians know it, so they developed a technique that was more comfortable for them. Their limitation resulted in a style of playing that was melodic and rhythmic at the same time. Listening to a good clawhammer player, you might think there are several instruments involved when in fact it's just one. There's often a melody line, as well as strummed chords, and a variety of rhythmic thumping, whacking, clucking, and popping all going on at the same time. No overlaid tracks, no additional instrumentation... just a single banjo and a curled up hand. It's fascinating to listen to and a lot of fun to play.

The stereotypical clawhammer banjo player is a grey haired, suspender-wearing, tobacco chewing old-timer from down South, who plays his own renditions of real old Appalachian folk tunes on his front porch. Now don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing these old timers - in fact I love old timey stuff like that and play a bit of it myself. I just bring it up as a contrast to Old Man Luedecke, who is neither old, nor from down South. He's from Nova Scotia, probably about the last place in North America you'd associate with clawhammer banjo. But there you have it. I believe he fits into the panoply of great acoustic musicians working here in the Northeast these days. From Boston to Vermont, all across New England and up into Eastern Canada, there seems to be a folk music revolution going on. There are so many great musicians who fit into this burgeoning category of acoustic string music, traditional playing styles, and modern lyrics, and OML fits right in there too. We may look back 50 years from now and call this the age of Northeast Folk.

Anyway, I digress. Let's just say that OML is a great banjo player who writes his own songs with modern lyrics. Songs like Joy of Cooking, I Quit My Job, Roustabout, and At The Airport are pure joy to listen to. His sometimes goofy sounding Nova Scotia accent only adds to the fun, and I challenge you to resist singing along. Quiet Creek is a beautiful song played beautifully, while Cemeteries Downtown, Notes From The Banjo Underground, and Hinterland are all a bit more pensive. It's all good. I've played this album for others who aren't as transfixed by the banjo as I am, and they liked it too - surely a testament to how friendly and open sounding this music is. You're listening to a modern singer-songwriter plucked from a different age. He's unique.

What a shame that his first album, Mole in the Ground is now out of print. For a while he was offering it as a free download on his website, and I was lucky enough to score a copy. If you can find it anywhere on the web, snatch it up, as it is just as much fun as Hinterland. Both these albums sound a bit raw (in a good way), as if they were recorded in his living room (wouldn't surprise me), but that's a GOOD thing, as you'll get to experience a musician at the height of his creative arc... before producers, record labels, bills, touring schedules, and middle age turn him bland. I hope that never happens to Old Man Luedecke, but if it does, at least we have a few really great albums to reflect on.