Spring Creek 05-09-2009

CD Release Party at the Boulder Theater
with sets by the Blue Maddies and Martha Scanlan

photo Holly Berry

Spring Creek CD Release Party
By Rich Ostella

The four-piece bluegrass band displayed a magnificent smorgasbord of talent at their Boulder Theater CD release party on May 9, 2009. Power guitarist Taylor Sims, dog house bass thunderbolt Jessica Smith, ace mandolin-slash-fiddler Alex Johnstone and the lightning banjo picker Chris “C-Bob” Elliott—each songwriters, singers, and I’ll dare to say lonesome virtuosos—played hard, fast and it was fun, “Son!” Spring Creek’s overall effect can be exhilarating and equally exhausting to watch when not awestruck by what seems to be a seamless mastery of their genre. On Saturday, in celebration of their third CD, Spring Creek, sponsored by KGNU and the Boulder Weekly, hosted a four and a half hour concert at the Boulder Theater. New label Rebel Records should be proud, it was a musical tempest, thrilling in almost every sense.

But it wasn’t as if the crowd came unprepared. Spring Creek initiated their partnership five years ago, touring and generating an abundance of grassroots attention. More to the point, Spring Creek caught the ears of the prestigious Rebel Records who, with sonic producer Jeff White, produced Spring Creek’s third album, Way up on a Mountain.

Milling around the merchandise table before the show I heard what had to be a twelve-year-old boy say to his guardian, “Way is the bomb.” I mention this because I believe that the hype has begun to bloom well beyond the Spring Creek superfan—and it’s only going to get bigger. With a spitfire opener, “Darlin’ Cory,” Spring Creek harkened back to days of the Monroe Brothers and delighted fans further when they rolled immediately into C-Bob’s “Fiddler’s Banjo.” It was an auditory frenzy that would surely make Bill and Charlie proud, and I’d wager they would consider Way up on a Mountain a traditional bluegrass album albeit skirting a clear progressive line. Call Spring Creek what you will, I feel like that twelve-year-old boy every time I hear Way and I did last Saturday at the Boulder Theater.

Their opening acts hail from a different corner of the bluegrass space-time continuum. The songwriter, vocalist, mandolinist and founder of Uncle Earl, KC Groves stage debuted her new Blue Maddies—each dressed aptly in versions of blue—and brought the house down with Dylan’s “Boots of Spanish Leather” and “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down.”

The second opening act of the evening was former Reeltime Travelers songstress Martha Scanlan who imparted a hauntingly esoteric, left leg-kickin’ flow to the evening with songs like “Seeds Of The Pine,” “Walkin‘” and crowd favorite, “The West Was Burning.” And it was her pedal steel playing companion, Fort Collins’ own Aaron Youngberg that brought some interesting elasticity to the forty minute set. The talented duo were the perfect rise to a Spring Creek climax.

After “Fiddler’s Banjo,” a hyperkinetic string workout, Spring Creek moved on to “Another Lonesome Night My Dear” an upbeat yet sad song co-penned and belted out by Jessica Smith. Then came Taylor Sims’ “Waterline Blues” with grease popping summer nostalgia and then later Chris Elliott sang a boyhood right of passage “Tangled In The Pines.” After that I witnessed a Spring Creek über-blur that felt not only intentional but downright maliciously delightful; pickin’ out “Drivin’ Me Crazy,” “Blue Skies, Blue Waters,” “Cuba Vera Swing,” “Sleepin’ Like A Baby,” “The One I Love Is Gone” and Old Joe Clark Fiddle-banjo duet –staring Chris Elliott’s lightning banjo fingers and Alex Johnstone’s furious fiddlin’. There were times I thought I had died and gone to bluegrass heaven but I could have done with a bit less red lighting from the tech crew and some in the crowd’s irreverence towards my borrowed camera lens vantage point.

These minor dings in what was otherwise a wonderful evening, hosted by a great staff at the theater, were forgotten when Spring Creek brought out friend, singer and mandolin guru Jordan Ramsey for the peppy gospel number “Cryin’ Holy” and the familiar Merle Haggard classic, “Somewhere Between Your Heart and Mine.” Then came “Pike County Breakdown,” a slippery auditory slope that gives one no time for reflexive facility, i.e., you just have to experience it. With my head reeling and striving to wrap my head around Chris Elliott’s finger speed, Jessica Smith’s lonely and yet equally empathetic voice gripped the audience with “Harvest of ‘55.” I’m not ashamed to admit that I had to fight tears. As if that plucked heart-string wasn’t enough, they followed “Harvest” with Alex Johnstone’s sweet love song, “It’s Allright My Darlin’.” It was awesome.

The rest of the show was less focused but more satisfying because of its variation. After “That’s How I Can Count On You,” “Honky Cat” and “Bowling Green” Spring Creek, featuring Jordan Ramsey’s slick mando-picks, the Blue Maddies were invited back on stage. It was wonderful to see Spring Creek’s humble sharing of the spotlight at their CD release party and even better to hear the conjoined renditions of “You Don’t Have to Move the Mountain” and “Drvin’ Nails in My Coffin” yodel-belted out by Bonnie Sims, wife of Spring Creek’s Taylor.

The night was an auditory buffet and an amazing evening for Spring Creek’s third bluegrass album and Rebel Records release, Way Up on a Mountain.

Martha Scanlan and the Blue Maddies also performed thier own sets [audio]

Website: springcreekbluegrassband.com
SPPS: Partner Page

Audio
stream | mp3s | zip

source: matrix recording 70%sdbd / 30% aud: source 1: sdbd > r-44, source 2: mxl2003s>v3>r-44 – mastered w/all open source tools – Audacity on Ubuntu 9.04 – Normed, Mixed, Fades, 24/48>16/44.1, tracked. comments prennix@gmail.com

01 Darlin Cory
02 The Fiddlers Banjo
03 Another Lonesome Night My Dear
04 Lonesome Way to Go
05 Waterline Blues
06 High Up In The Mountains
07 Tangled In The Pines
08 Drivin’ Me Crazy
09 Blue Skies, Blue Waters
10 Cuba Vera Swing
11 Sleepin’ Like A Baby
12 The One I Love Is Gone
13 Old Joe Clark Fiddle-banjo duet – Chris and Alex
14 Cryin’ Holy w/Jordan Ramsey
15 Somewhere Between Your Heart and Mine w/Jordan Ramsey
16 Pike County Breakdown w/Jordan Ramsey
17 The Harvest of ‘55
18 It’s Allright My Darlin
19 That’s How I Can Count On You
20 Honky Cat
21 Bowling Green
22 You Don’t Have to Move the Mountain w/Jordan & Blue Maddies
23 Drvin’ Nails in My Coffin w/Jordan & Blue Maddies, Bonnie sings
24 Scotland