TONY FURTADO – The Bell (Blue Rose BLUDP06630)

TONY FURTADO The BellHailing from Oakland, California with a Portuguese-Italian heritage, Furtado started playing banjo back in sixth grade, even knocking up his own DIY instrument. Since then, he’s gone on to carve a solid reputation in the roots music field, not only for banjo, but also on slide guitar, working both his own band as a sideman playing bluegrass, jazz, folk, rock and country.

Having made his recording debut in 1992, this is his twelfth studio set and sees him returning more to his banjo roots, including cello-banjo, as well as the occasional splash of uke and resophonic guitar.

Fuelled by both the loss of his father and the birth of his son, it’s a very personal affair, opening up with ‘Broken Bell’, a fiddle backed dark Celtic-tinged track that immediately calls to mind Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, and, on the “you will never chain my mind” refrain, ‘The Chain’ in particular.

There’s a similar musical mood to ‘Tired Lion’, a song inspired by a sculpture he saw in a museum that put him in mind of his father, but then ‘Dying Language’, a number about dealing with the negativity of others, has a slightly lighter tone, accordion, piano and acoustic guitar carrying the rhythm along, a resonator solo providing the bridge.

Reinforcing his prowess as a player, ‘Astoria’ is one of three instrumentals, a persistent, brooding banjo riff backed by fiddle and drums punctuated by a spooked slide haunted mid-section. The other two ring the changes with ‘Iowa’ offering a folksy acoustic slide showcase with spare bass and percussion backing and the gradually gathering ‘Jo Jo’ introducing tabla and pedal steel behind the dominant banjo and uke work.

Stylistically, the album keeps very much within the territory established in the opening tracks, particular highlights being ‘Tall Grass’, Furtado’s voice in higher register on a song about that clearly relates to his father (“two boys tumbling chasing your shadow, I see you smiling, you’re lost in the echoes”) as does the emotionally open son’s reflection ‘Ashes Of A Man’, the dottled cello-banjo coloured by Hanz Araki’s flute and the penultimate ‘Lie Alone’ (“nights are like broken glass and every shard a piece of our past”) where memories of differences and sense of loss come together.

After such sorrow, the album finally finds happiness with the Appalachian-tinted ‘Star’, a dreamy, widescreen love song to his child as, accompanied by mandolin, Furtado sings “bright and wide, he’s all teeth and tongue. Love and light come tangled in a shining little son.” a warming end to a journey from grief to joy. Let it ring.

The European release also comes with ‘Copper and Tin’, a six track bonus CD, five of which are instrumentals, including a simple resonator guitar version of ‘Amazing Grace’, banjo-led traditional Irish medley ‘The Blackhaired Lass/Rakish Paddy/The Ladies Pantalettes’ and ‘Firecracker’, a slide duet with bassist Rob Stroup taken from the documentary Wrestling With Iowa, with the sole vocal number being another traditional tune, a finger-picked reading of ‘Peggy O’.

Mike Davies

Artist’s website: https://www.facebook.com/TonyFurtadoMusic/

‘Peggy O’ live:


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