Youtube
brings us new stars every day, Twitter brings new trends every 5 minutes, and
new styles seem to disappear almost before anyone knows how to spell them.
Isn´t it good to know there are people around who not only know how to hold
their instruments, they´ve been playing them so long they´ve become part of
their persona.
All this
and more went through my mind last weekend in The Hague watching some old
friends do what they do best: making music. When I say old friends I wish I
could say old in the sense that we´ve known each other for decades. This is not
true: I have only know Mak and one of his Insiders, John, for 3 years. So, yes,
it´s old in the number of years on the planet sense. Nothing to complain about there as Mak has
spent these long years in many places doing many things, but always playing the
music he loves most: Americana and country. The brand new cd, The Lowland
Years, is a celebration of Mak´s years in the Netherlands and is also a
distillation of his life experience. Mak has this music flowing in his veins,
he has stories to tell, and a wonderful team of musicians around him to brings
his songs to life.
Mak´s songs
are beautiful and simple. Like the best country music, everything is there to
tell a story. This means the arrangements have to be clean in their making and
in their execution and they have to be detailed so that the most significant
moments in the story are pointed up and highlighted. Like the best country music there is a sense
of economy. You don´t need a 50 piece orchestra washing around you and you
don´t need a horn section covering up your tracks. Mak & The Insiders have
all they need in a compact band who make a tight sound that is clean as a
whistle: rhythm guitar, lead, bass and pedal
steel or slide guitar and percussion.
For the launch
gig, John played cajón to fit onto the limited stage area of Foots music bar and I
have heard him play drum kit enough
times to know that if he had had room
for a kit he would have brought endless jewels of detail, interesting fills and
rhythmic interest without ever overpowering the voice.
The cover
painting, shown here, is from View of The Hague from the Southeast by Jan van
Goyen ca. 1650 – 51, from the Haags Historisch Museum in The Hague.
I hope Mak
will let me know his Soundcloud tag so that you can hear his music. Watch this space.
Thanks to
Mak Wolven & The Insiders for a great cd, a fun afternoon at the bar, and
for stimulating my reflections on newness, age and greatness.
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