Chris Coole & Mark Kilianski go track by track through Adeline, July 15
By WTJU
What happens when five musicians isolated in Canada during a pandemic (and blizzard to boot) decide to get together over three days for a special recording project? Adeline. Tune in Thursday afternoon, July 15, when two of the members, Chris Coole (Lonesome Ace Stringband) and Mark Kilianski (Golden Shoals) sneak over the border to go track by track through the entire album during Folk & Beyond (4-7 pm edt at 91.1 FM, streaming at wtju.net, or by asking your smart speaker to “Play WTJU“).
After the strange year that was 2020, (and after covid tests and quarantines) they came together in March 2021 to record for three days and nights. The recording project took place at John’s cottage on the shores of Beaver Lake in the heart of the Kawartha Highlands of Ontario. The 70-year old cabin proved to be the perfect place to make this project happen, save for a full-day power outage caused by a bitter winter storm (-18 degrees) on Day 3 that threatened to scuttle the session. They lit candles, picked tunes in weird tunings, took a band photo on the frozen lake and waited for 6 hours with beers and good cheer until the power was thankfully restored.
Although this group of musicians had never played as an ensemble before (Sam and Mark had never even met), most of us had crossed paths enough at jam sessions, green rooms, and parties to know that there was a common musicality. Our enforced time off the road offered a rare opportunity to all be in the same place at the same time.
When they started playing on Saturday night, not only was it the first time they’d played together, but it was the first time any of us had played in a group that size for an entire year! The music felt like a gift from the first downbeat. It also felt like revisiting an old addiction. It was a totally exciting and unique experience which they think is echoed in what you’ll hear on the album.
Leading up to the session they exchanged emails and narrowed down a tune list which included many fine tunes from some older sources (Ed Haley, Eck Robertson, Lowe Stokes, Ernie Carpenter) as well as some more modern ones (Garry Harrison, James Bryan, Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker).
Their approach to playing the material was to be very free and fluid with the arrangements, background textures, and dynamics. They were inspired by John Hartford’s “Windows” system of playing rhythm for old-time music. While they didn’t follow it to the letter (and on some tunes didn’t follow it at all), they borrowed its spirit of improvisation. Although a lot “goes down” in the backup, the arrangements happened on the spot, and in the moment – there was no planning and no safety net. The result was some old-time music that is balanced on a knife-edge, which can go from kick-ass to crazy to vulnerable in a heartbeat (they think in a good way).
Bringing this project to fruition would not have been possible without the support of all the people who joined in their Kickstarter campaign. The band would also like to acknowledge the ancestral lands of the Anishinabewaki and Mississauga people, upon which we recorded this album.
