The Lil Smokies wind up on Tornillo
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:29:35 +0000
When: Jan. 24, 8 p.m.
Where: Biltmore Cabaret, 2755 Prince Edward St.
Tickets and info: $15 at livenation.com
Tornillo is a Spanish term that translates as a small lathe screw. It has also come to describe a waveform that twists like a screw, driving home a specific sonic point. Tornillo is also the name of the remote West Texas border town where the Lil Smokies recorded their latest album.
That’s fitting, as the acoustic Missoula, Mont., alt-bluegrass crew makes music that drives its way into your ears and fastens there.
Recorded at the Sonic Ranch with producer-engineer Bill Reynolds who has worked magic on releases by the Avett Brothers, Band of Horses and Midland, among others, the third album by the Lil Smokies is a big leap forward for the band. Matt Cornette (banjo), Andy Dunnigan (vocals, Dobro), Scott Parker (bass), Matt (Rev) Rieger (guitar, vocals) and Jake Simpson (fiddle, vocals) are at the peak of their craft on songs such as the slow-building Carry Me, galloping True Blues and harmony-laden Giant.
Fans of ’70s California folk-rock-scene acts from Poco and Muleskinner to America will find plenty to take in on the 11-track record. It’s a spacious, atmospheric album that never rushes and seems to arrive from another time and place than the brutish, mean and short lands of SoundCloud rap and U.K. grind.
Small surprise that the band has built a grassroots reputation for its live shows performing at major festivals such as Telluride Bluegrass and legendary venues such as Red Rocks. Not a lot of acoustic bands can claim millions of streams on Spotify, but the Lil Smokies can.
Jake Simpson took time out from the pre-tour rehearsals to chat about Tornillo:
Postmedia News:Tornillo is a step up and a spectacular sounding album. Did recording in the relative remoteness of Sonic Ranch contribute a lot to the final product?
Jake Simpson: You know a lot goes into making music and you sometimes forget that the environment is one of the factors until you are in a place that so obviously affects it. Everything about the studio was right and in its place, with all the gear you could ever want to play with. It’s a psychedelic place, without being on any drug you kind of feel like you’re tripping. Plus, there is this heaviness due to it being on the border in the present political climate, right on the edge and all.
Q: The album title seems to convey a lot of multiple meanings similar to that trippy, heaviness you describe.
A: For sure, it means screw, but it also means fastener. Andy (Dunnigan) has said often that what happened at Sonic Ranch was we became fastened together more as a band than ever before, playing the songs in the studio the way that they were really supposed to sound.
Q: What brings a bunch of younger players to acoustic music making rather than plugging in and turning everything up to 11?
A: Coming from all kinds of different musical backgrounds, including turning up loud, the one common denominator we all had was that we had all been involved in, or come up in, a local bluegrass scene at some point. It all sort of happened by accident that we wound up the band that we are, because the crowds who liked our music just also happened to be people who liked bluegrass. We won’t be getting any awards from any bluegrass association, because we aren’t purists, any more than Mumford & Sons are.
Q: It’s a lot cheaper tour when you aren’t hauling all those amps and extra gear isn’t it?
A: Oh man, amen, we have our little trailer and just load in our pedal boards, plug into the PA and have at it. By far, our in-ear monitor rack takes more time to set up than anything else, but that’s key to the harmonies. And we do try to turn it up to 11 in that context, but the acoustic instruments are really bright, so it tends to sound louder.
Q: As a band that tours as much as you do, I assume that a lot of the tunes on Tornillo were road-tested before they were committed to the new record?
A: Part were, part weren’t. We did play Fortunes, Sharpest Edges and True Blues earlier on in past sets. But a good deal of this material no one has heard until the record comes out on Jan. 24, and we are performing it live for the first time. If you’re going to put out a new record, you probably should save some — most — of it for the next tour to give fans something fresh. You always want some aces in the back pocket.