Frank Solivan has been a mainstay in Bluegrass for most of the twenty first century, and a lot of that can be attributed to his desire for new achievements and sounds. After a satisfying career working for Country Current, Solivan’s band Dirty Kitchen has been through numerous lineups, but has constantly been one of the best instrumental groups during that time. Due to this bands influence on current music being released today, it is strange to think that this is technically their first album since 2014. Of course, this is because Frank’s last project ‘Family Friends and Heroes’ was just that: a record where the fellow musicians would consist of heroes such as Del McCoury and others. Of course, his friends, Dirty Kitchen, can be found on that album as well.
This project comes out a few years after that personal detour and shows that this band has done nothing but improve in that time in regards to their instrumental and vocal abilities, as well as to the cohesiveness as a whole. From the beginning of the Becky Buller penned “Crave”, the guitar of Chris Luquette and the banjo of Mike Munford are in perfect synergy and give a perfect platform for Frank to belt the lyrics. Buller and Solivan’s lyrics on this song represent a conscious change in bluegrass songwriting which has now begun to resemble more general pop songwriting with its allusions to self-reflection and determination. “The More I crave/ the more I lose” as a mantra to a bluegrass song is not something that would be as well received even twenty years ago when the “separation” between bluegrass and popular music was still an aesthetic goal of musicians. Like many great Dirty Kitchen songs from the past, the instrumental displays that the listener arrives at near the end of the song are some of the best of the best, especially Luquette’s extended solo.
“Crooked Eyed John” like the name suggests, is an attempt at Neo-Old time music which accomplishes its goal. A modern twist is added by the off kilter phrasing of the lyrics as well as the chord progression. The heavily emphasized fours in the verse give the piece an arresting momentum that will assuredly get the audiences out of their seat to dance. In the past, I have always felt like Luquette’s guitar playing leaves something to be desired, and that his interesting licks sometimes lead to a lack of a narrative for the entire solo. He seems to have solved that problem on this album which is extremely exciting news for any guitar enthusiasts because Luquette’s confidence can lead to some of the most out of nowhere creations in bluegrass music today.
After another heartfelt self reflective minor laden track in “My own Way” with lines such as “That’s the part that I hate most/ I’m not good at letting go”, and a solid Munford featured banjo tune titled “Crack of Noon”, the fifth track “Set in Stone” establishes a pattern that will be difficult for listeners not to discern.
I understand that songs can either only be in major or minor, and songs limited to major keys are limited in their pop sensibilities, but the fact that the first five songs of this project all rely on the minor to major narrative is lazy. It doesn’t help matters that “Set in Stone” seems to have the same troubled, self-reflective disposition as the past tracks. Clearly, each member of Dirty Kitchen must have fallen in love with this sound and never examined that it may be too much of a good thing.
This drawl of minordom is liberated for a brief sliver with a classic G-Run by Luquette on “Lena”. Unfortunately, it is immediately plagued by a constant movement to the six-minor. “Wild Mustang” brings us back into the world of minor, but also in an unexpected twist into the world of bluegrass exoticism. I am surprised in our current bluegrass climate that is attempting to be more self reflective on its innate biases that nobody has mentioned songs like this where allusions to faraway lands are used simply for the sake of mystique. A better attempt to pay tribute to other cultures comes with a tribute to Rock N’ Roll past with Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t
Lose that Number” sung by Jeremey Middleton. They keep pretty straight to the original, which I think it is a wise decision.
While this album suffers from big picture artistic decisions, these guys are still damn good. “Shiver”, written by Megan McCormik, is a prime example of what this band is capable of when choosing the right material. Listen to the first verse and investigate how the rhythmic texture changes on a dime: it’s one of the most impressive things I’ve heard in any band of any genre for a long time. Solivan’s voice soars by the end and the listeners are left with a good taste in their mouth with this track and the following “Be Sure” which finally brings us a major tonality and a brightness that this album is lacking due to song choice issues.
