I was raised on instrumental music before I fell in love with songs and songwriters, so I keep my radar scanning for contemporary instrumental records in the roots music space. For years, such albums came predominantly from the bluegrass universe, but through 2024 and on into this year, I kept latching on to sonic excursions encompassing rock, blues, guitar folk and twangy jazz. Here’s a roundup of recent recordings that will set your head bobbing while requiring no verbal skills.
John Mailander’s Forecast - Let The World In
We live in a time rich with brilliant young bluegrass and newgrass fiddlers, and John Mailander is an especially complete artist with a composer’s vision. Since attending Berklee and moving to Nashville, he’s been heard with Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Lindsay Lou, and his current touring gig, Bruce Hornsby’s Noisemakers. Let the World In is the very new release from a band he assembled in 2019 featuring some of the city’s hottest fusion-minded players: Ethan Jodziewicz on bass, Mark Raudabaugh on drums, Chris Lippencott on keys and steel, Jake Stargell on acoustic guitar, and Mark Williford on sax. Yes, sax. It’s a crossover jazz band with bluegrass overtones. The title track sets a Sunday morning pastoral mood, and most of the five full songs on this 35-minute ride make for sweet listening, with a long Nick Drake cover as dreamy highlight. But stay on your toes. There are some experimental, ear-jangling surprises along the way.
Väsen and Hawktail - self titled
Nashville’s acclaimed acoustic string quartet Hawktail has always professed a passionate love for their Swedish counterparts, the 35-year-old band Väsen. You can hear it in aspects of fiddler Brittany Haas’s unique bowing style. Last year they realized a dream of collaborating with the veterans from Uppsala, producing a magical, floating 10-song collection released on Hawktail’s own Padiddle Records label. There’s a wintry brightness to these collaboratively composed tunes and a distinct string language that embraces clean, unwavering tone, bold melodies, and delicate ornaments. Paul Kowert’s low, liquid bass pins the uplifting works to the earth. I love the gathering force of “Hawk Ale,” the catchy lilt of “Your Town Polska,” and the rapturous “The Tobogganist.”
Colin O’Brien - Thirteen
As I said in a recent Old Fashioned show note, “Colin O’Brien is a steadfast friend to the East Nashville acoustic roots and bluegrass scene, known for his banjo and fiddle playing, his flatfoot dancing, and his John Hartford-inspired hat.” So last summer when he handed me a copy of his solo guitar album Thirteen, I didn’t know what to expect. What I heard was exciting - the next chapter of O'Brien's musical journey - a set of original fingerpicking tunes that are masterfully played and compulsively enjoyable. These honest recordings make a listener feel like they have a gifted guitar picker hanging out in their home, playing for them personally. He comes from the neo-blues primitive tradition of John Fahey and Leo Kottke, but Colin’s uniqueness as a guy shines through in his six-string prestidigitation. His website is here.
Guthrie Trapp and Tom Bukovac - In Stereo
More on the epic side of the guitar world is the duo rock/blues/jazz opera In Stereo. Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp are among Music City’s elite session and stage guitarists, capable of adapting to any situation and coming up with endless ideas. But sometimes they should be in charge, and here they are, two simpatico electric pickers conjuring tricky but always accessible music that balances composed melodies with quality jams. Especially welcome is a "revisited" edition of “Pick Peace,” the title cut of Trapp’s excellent solo debut. Released last August, In Stereo sounds great on a stereo and will satisfy fans of John Scofield, Danny Gatton, The Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, and Nashville.
Molly Miller - The Ballad Of Hotspur
In the last two years the guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez has grown popular with their spectral, Latin-tinged instrumentals. And they’re cool; I'm glad for their success. But if that vibe appeals to you at all, I’m here to tell you that Molly Miller makes more inventive magic by herself than those guys do together. She’s a sought-after Los Angeles musician and an educator - a certified Dr. of Guitar who is chair of the Guitar Department at Los Angeles College of Music. But what matters is her sound - a jazz voice rooted even more in Duane Eddy and Dick Dale than Wes Montgomery, with hearty, hummable melodies and a liberated approach to improvising that’s muscular and rocking or tender and spacious as the song demands. I listen to this album a lot thanks to tracks like the slinky “Saddles Back” and the big sky feeling “66 West”. I'm drawn in because of Miller’s sweet intensity and the utterly synched up ensemble playing with drum genius Jay Bellerose and hard-rolling bass player Jennifer Condos. With its country overtones and twang, if this isn’t Americana, nothing is. Miller has since released a live album that you’ll want to check out as well.
Bobby Frank - Inevitable
How about the handpan, an instrument that’s only about 15 years old? Is that Americana? Well it’s for sure hand-wrought music, and this ambient project from Nashville’s Bobby Frank exceeded my expectations. It’s not just another new age massage studio recording. Frank, a drummer who plays with Tennessee Dead, Rich Mahan and other roots artists, has a keen sense of rhythm that evokes the fingertip pulses and ornaments of Indian tabla drums. And this instrument, a recent offshoot of the Trinidadian oil drum xylophone or steel pan, is abundantly lush with harmonics and overtones that fill the air and float. This feels great whether you’re leaning in to listen or lying on your back blissing out.
