Loudon Wainwright, III High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project CD

Charlie Poole (1892-1931) was a hard-living, plain-singing, banjo-picking raconteur, amateur baseball player, mill worker, boozer, and bootlegger whose name may not be as well known as, say, Jimmie Rodgers or the Carter Family, but who nonetheless helped define what country music later became. Loudon Wainwright built this album around both old songs associated with Poole and new ones that help move the Poole story forward for today's world. Poole was not primarily a songwriter; he took what he heard elsewhere and bent it to his will. But he had an inimitable populist style, a whole lot of attitude and charisma, and the kind of sly humor that a sly humorist like Wainwright certainly can embrace. Of the 30 tracks spread across these two discs, all but nine were found among Poole's own, relatively small catalog. Without attempting to replicate the acoustic string band sound of the '20s and early '30s, Wainwright gets to the heart of songs such as "I'm the Man Who Rode the Mule Around the World," "Moving Day" (with the Roches on background vocals), "The Letter That Never Came," and "Mother's Last Farewell Kiss," tunes that Poole waxed and which, in the hands of Wainwright, manage to open a window into the Depression-era life while remaining viable to contemporary ears. Loudon's new songs are intended not so much to conform to Poole's style (although they do that, too) as to embellish upon it.

Tributee: Charlie Poole.

Personnel: Loudon Wainwright III (vocals, guitar, banjo, background vocals); Chaim Tannenbaum (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, background vocals); Maggie Roche (vocals, background vocals); Peter Ecklund (whistling, trumpet); Matt Munisteri (guitar, banjo); Rob Moose (acoustic guitar, National guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, violin); David Mansfield (dobro, mandolin, violin, background vocals); Geoff Muldaur (banjo); Chris Thile (mandolin, background vocals); Dana Lyn, Rayna Gellert, Paul Woodiel (violin); Danielle Farina (viola); Erik Friedlander (cello); Wade Schuman (harmonica); C.J. Camerieri (trumpet, French horn); Dan "D Unit" Levine (trombone, euphonium); Michael Davis (trombone); Marcus Rojas (tuba); Paul Asaro (piano); Ben Perowsky, Stefan Schatz (drums); Dick Connette (bass drum, cymbals, background vocals); Dave Roche, Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Sloan Wainwright, Suzzy Roche, Terre Roche (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Alex Venguer; Scott Lehrer.

Liner Note Authors: Dick Connette; Greil Marcus; Kinney Rorrer; Loudon Wainwright III; Greil Marcus; Kinney Rorrer.

Recording information: 2nd Story Sound, New York, NY (05/2008-06/2009); Ultratone Studio, Studio City, CA (05/2008-06/2009).

Photographers: Paula Court; Milton Kramer; Chuck Levey; Paula Court; Milt Kramer.

Arrangers: Rob Moose; Dick Connette; Geoff Muldaur; Matt Munisteri.Rolling Stone (p.84) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Wainwright's sprawling family add clever harmonies to songs about marriage, booze and rabble-rousing."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.99) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Wainwright and his producer Dick Connette keep things flowing with arrangements that run from solo voice to string backing and, naturally, the banjo features prominently."