CAHALEN MORRISON & ELI WEST the musician’s musicians…

C&E header 2014(1)It means something that the word about Americana roots duo Cahalen Morrison & Eli West spread first among musicians. Their debut album was passed around the ranks of some of the best American roots bands and seen as a model to strive for in songwriting and musicianship. In this way, you could think of Cahalen & Eli as musician’s musicians. This is because their music seems effortlessly simple, but is complex enough to engage us far beyond the usual way we listen to roots music.

Cahalen Morrison’s songwriting is as much informed by the dark lyricism of Cormac McCarthy as it is by Appalachian stringband songs, and Eli West’s angular, racing arrangements owe as much to the speed and aggression of early jazz as they do to bluegrass greats like Bill Monroe.

With their new album, I’ll Swing My Hammer With Both My Hands, Cahalen Morrison & Eli West have perfected their chemistry as a duo, falling into long-form instrumental grooves and threading their vocal harmonies together as tightly as a weaver. Produced by Grammy-winning artist Tim O’Brien, they recorded the album at the Colorado Rockies, assisted by fiddlers Ryan Drickey and Brittany Haas.  Together Cahalen Morrison & Eli West make music that draws from the well of American tradition, but reshapes these traditions into beautiful new forms.

Artists’ website: http://cahalenandeli.com/


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