SOUNDTRACK: FEDE GRAÑA Y LOS PROLIJOS-“”El Gigante” (Field Recordings, May 5, 2015).
Fede Graña Y Los Prolijos are from Uruguay and play a stomping bluegrass (which is why this is called A Bluegrass Ditty By Way Of Uruguay).
Every year SXSW hosts a night of music from Uruguay.
Nestled between Argentina and Brazil way down on the southern tip of the Americas, Uruguay spends way too much time in the shadows of its better-known neighbors.
But a closer listen reveals something for just about everyone: rockeros, sure, but also fans of hip-hop, folk-influenced downtempo music and singer-songwriters with distinct voices and stories to tell.
With an electric bass and a small hand drum laying down the thumping rhythm and an accordion adding to the flair, the fascination comes from the very American-sounding guitar solo that introduces the song. But once you comfortably know that this is bluegrass, it’s even more surprising when they all sing in Spanish.
After a couple of verses, there’s an accordion solo followed by an acoustic guitar solo (from the other guitarist). There’s a slow down that seems like an ending but it’s a fake out as the song takes off once more,.
There’s some great guitar fingerwork by he singer as the song races to an end
What a fun song, although I never heard the word “Gigante” once..
[READ: January 5, 2017] “Chicken Hill”
Joy Williams’ stories never do what I expect them to do–for better and worse.
This is the story of Ruth.
It begins with Ruth going to a memorial fundrasier at the Barbed Wire, a biker bar “in a somewhat alarming part of town.” She had donated $30 to the memorial of a boy, Hector, who has been run over by a sheriff’s deputy.
Ruth was pleased that the father was suing the sheriff–then she found out it was the boy’s fault–he had run in to traffic against the light.
The transition is a strange one: “It was probably just a coincidence that a child appeared not long after that.” This was a girl who lived in a house nearby. She was the daughter of a doctor and rather than introducing herself she said to Ruth “I would like to draw you in plein air.” (more…)
I Just Read About That... 