Bill
Frisell
The Best of Bill Frisell Vol. 1
Folk Songs Song List:
1. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (3:30)
2. Raccoon Cat (3:26)
3. Sugar Baby (3:54)
4. We're Not from Around Here (4:23)
5. The Pioneers (5:23)
6. Rag (4:09)
7. Verona (3:09)
8. Shenandoah (6:11)
9. Ballroom (3:23)
10. Have a Little Faith in Me (5:43)
11. Mr. Memory (3:59)
12. Wildwood Flower (6:25)
13. Slow Dance (3:11)
14. Sittin' on Top of the World (4:04)
15. Poem for Eva (3:44)
TRT (65:05)
Produced by Lee Townsend
Except tracks 4, 6, 10 & 11 produced by Wayne Horvitz
All compositions written by Bill Frisell (Friz-Tone Music/BMI) except
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams (Sony/ATV/Acuff Rose
Music/BMI), "Sugar Baby", "Shenandoah" and "Sittin' on Top of the World" (Traditional), "Have
a Little Faith In Me" by John Hiatt (Lillybilly Music/BUG/BMI), "Wildwood
Flower" by A.P. Carter (PRS/BMI)
Nonesuch Records
Tracks 1, 12 from Ghost
Town (Nonesuch Records) Bill Frisell, electric and acoustic guitars (1), acoustic guitar
(12)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Christian Jones
Tracks 2, 7, 9 from Gone, Just Like a Train (Nonesuch Records) Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar
Viktor Krauss, bass
Jim Keltner, drums (2, 9), drums and percussion (7)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
Tracks 3, 14 from The Willies (Nonesuch Records) Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar (3), acoustic and electric guitars (14)
Danny Barnes, banjo
Keith Lowe, bass
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Tucker Martine
Tracks 4, 11 from Nashville (Nonesuch Records) Bill Frisell, electric guitar (4), acoustic guitar (11)
Jerry Douglas, dobro
Viktor Krauss, bass
Recording Engineer: Roger Moutenot
Tracks 5, 8, 15 from Good God,
Happy Man (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric guitar and loop (5), acoustic guitar (8), electric and
acoustic guitars (15)
Ry Cooder, electric and Ripley guitar (8)
Greg Leisz, pedal steel (5, 15)
Wayne Horvitz, organ (5, 15)
Viktor Krauss, bass
Jim Keltner, drums (5, 8), drums and percussion (15)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
Track 6 from Is That You? (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar
Recording Engineer: Jay Follette
Mixing Engineer: Roger Moutenot
Track 10 from Have a Little Faith (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, guitar
Kermit Driscoll, bass
Joey Baron, drums
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Joe Ferla
Track 13 from Blues Dream (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric guitar
Greg Leisz, dobro
David Piltch, bass
Kenny Wollesen, drums
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
REVIEWS
As an artist who’s spent his life gently dissolving the boundaries
between ‘genres’, Mr. Frisell would doubtless afford himself
a quiet smile that his songs should now be anthologized under such
tags as ‘Folk’. Even Elvis Costello’s sleeve
notes recognize that many contemporary listeners barely recognize the ‘old
stop signs’ of ‘jazz’ or ‘folk’. And
if the music company does insist on sifting Frisell’s music into
various buckets, then surely this one should be tagged ‘Country’,
because there lie the roots Frisell taps in this collection. But
even given that, most songs here are originals, while the Country guests,
a halcyon bunch, colour barely half the tracks. So the country we’re
visiting here is really Frisellia, with its familiar landscapes of
echoey effects, sweet melody, suspended chords, an horizonless sense
of space, aching beauty, tempos reduced to an airy stillness, deep
affection and a blessed freedom from irony. The classic here
is ‘Shenandoah’ a duet with Ry Cooder that’s as wide
as that rolling river – and is dedicated to the ridiculously
unremembered Johnny Smith. Just file under damn fine music. And
start saving for Volume II.
- Andy Robson, Jazzwise
