Tag: Benjamin Lazar Davis

LISTEN: Jayme Stone, “Josie-O”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Jayme Stone, Baby States
Hometown: Longmont, Colorado
Song: “Josie-O”
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Label: Folklife Records

In Their Words: “‘Josie-O’ is a kaleidoscopic reimagining of an Appalachian tune that brings together hypnotic drones, West African rhythms and overlapping Steve Reich-like melodies. It’s a collaboration with Baby States, a Brooklyn-based band featuring Benjamin Lazar Davis (Maya Hawke, Okkervil River), Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic, Anaïs Mitchell) and Jeremy Gustin (Jesse Harris, Rubblebucket). We all share a love of these old melodies and a curiosity about the wild places we can take them.

“I first heard this tune on Adam Hurt’s mesmerizing album of solo gourd banjo music called Earth Tones. I prepared the banjo with a piece of foam in front of the bridge to give it a gourd-like sound and Jeremy played drums with sticks that had long braided threads at the ends. They looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book and for some reason made sparks when they got close to the ribbons mics. Fortunately nothing caught fire!” — Jayme Stone

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

STREAM: Baby States, ‘Baby States’

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Baby States
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Album: Baby States
Release Date: August 24

In Their Words: "Baby States is the trio I share with Jeremy Gustin (Delicate Steve, Albert Hammond Jr., Jesse Harris, Star Rover) and Benjamin Lazar Davis (Cuddle Magic, Okkervil River, Bridget Kearney, Joan As Policewoman). This is an album of, mostly, folk material. They are songs and fiddle tunes we have freely reimagined and recombined. With the exception of Vic Chesnutt's 'Whatever the Reason,' they have no singular composer. Our versions borrow — steal? — elements learned from family (Peter Davis), friends (the fiddler Cleek Schrey), books (W.K. McNeill's Southern Folk Ballads), and from source recordings both 'primary' (The Wallin Brothers of North Carolina) and 'secondary' (Arthur Russell's posthumously released demos). The words 'primary' and 'secondary' are, skeptically, in quotes, because all of those primary sources certainly borrowed — stole? — their material from family, friends, books, and recordings, in turn. This is a repertoire without real authorship. It has no beginning. And as long as musicians continue to play these songs, it has no end." — Alec Spiegelman

WATCH: Bridget Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis, ‘Slow Rider’

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Artist: Bridget Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Song: "Slow Rider"
Album: Bawa
Release Date: September 18
Label: Signature Sounds

In Their Words: "'Slow Rider' was the first song that we wrote for this EP and it's based on the Bawa song 'Sisalla' which was the first thing that got us excited about Bawa music. The four-bar loop that is a back-up part for 'Sisalla' has this crazy lilt to the rhythmic composition that was deceptively hard to learn and had a mysterious magic to it. I remember the day we learned it. After our lesson with Aaron Bebe, we went straight back to the room we had rented at the University of Ghana in Legon to work on it. And it was about 90 degrees in there and there was no A/C. But we were just sitting there playing into the ceiling fans, sweating buckets, and looping those four bars on repeat for hours and hours. Finally, we were really in the groove of it and feeling all the subtleties of how the notes work together and that was when the vocal melody started to take shape over top of it and we started stringing the words together. That guitar loop is still magical to me every time I play it. It's a back-up part, but it's really the main event!" — Bridget Kearney

Photo credit: Tim Davis