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Peter Rowan & Tony Rice
You Were There for Me
(Rounder)
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2004, Volume 11, #11
Written by John Metzger
For decades, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice have been expanding the boundaries of
bluegrass, and although their paths have crossed quite frequently — particularly
in recent years via a series of collaborative concerts — You Were There for
Me is their inaugural, full-length studio recording. Backed largely by
longtime accompanists Billy and Bryn Bright on mandolin and bass, respectively —
Tony Garnier, bass player for Bob Dylan’s touring band, and former SeaTrain
percussionist Larry Atamanuik also assist on a handful of selections — the duo
carves a customarily wide swath through roots music, flavoring its country-folk
concoctions with dashes of bluegrass, rock, and blues while adding a few jazz
and Latin-tinged flourishes for good measure. The result is stunning, hypnotic,
and intoxicating as Rowan’s impassioned vocals repeatedly drift with ethereal
beauty over Rice’s delicately delivered guitar accompaniments. The galvanic
groove of Tin Roof Shack, the wistful Angel Island, and the
sorrow-drenched Ain’t That Just Like You are all superb illustrations of
the success of this distinctive and long overdue pairing. However, the highlight
is the positively brilliant insertion of the reflective Cowboys and Indians
between the elegiac ballads Miss Liberty (Lay My Lonesome Down) and Ahmed the Beggar Boy, which only improves upon the magnificence of this
trilogy of tracks by shading them with a unified interpretation. Indeed, it’s a
moving ode to the lives lost via an unjust war as well as an attempt to come to
grips with how America has found itself in such a dire predicament. In short,
there have been plenty of wonderfully soft-spoken and subtle moments scattered
throughout a myriad of releases this year, but taken as a whole, You Were
There for Me is lovelier than anything else put forth in 2004. That it comes
at the hands of Peter Rowan and Tony Rice surely isn’t a surprise. 
You Were There for Me is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2004
The Music Box
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