High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project
Encyclopedia
High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project is the 20th studio album
by American
singer-songwriter
Loudon Wainwright III
. The album, a double-CD released on August 18, 2009 on 2nd Story Sound, pays tribute to singer and banjo
picker Charlie Poole
(1892–1931). It features 30 tracks, including new versions of songs made popular by Poole from 1925 through 1930, as well as original songs on Poole's turbulent life by Wainwright and producer Dick Connette.
More than 25 artists contributed to the album, including Wainwright's children, Rufus Wainwright
, Martha Wainwright
and Lucy Wainwright Roche
, all singer-songwriters in their own right; his sister, singer-songwriter Sloan Wainwright
; Maggie, Suzzy
and Terre Roche of The Roches
; Chris Thile
, mandolinist and vocalist for the former acoustic group Nickel Creek
; and Geoff Muldaur
, a founding member of the 1960s group Jim Kweskin Jug Band
.
The album won the 2010 Grammy Award
for Best Traditional Folk Album
.
. He was at Sky's home in Rhode Island, and Sky played the Poole novelty song "Awful Hungry Hash House". Wainwright found it hilarious, and over the next few years learned other songs by the North Carolina picker. He also became intrigued by stories of Poole's life - his days as a mill worker, his stint as a semi-pro baseball player, his success as one of country music's first stars, and the alcoholism that led to his early death.
Wainwright admits to identifying with Poole, whom he describes as a "rambling, hard-drinking, crazy Southern showman." He initially thought of writing a biographical film on Poole's life and fantasized about playing the lead part, but it never came to anything. Instead, some three decades later, he and Connette collaborated in recording what Wainwright refers to as "a sonic bio-pic of sorts."
Connette conceived the idea for the album after giving Wainwright a copy of the three-CD collection Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music (Columbia, 2005). He also bought a copy for himself, and in listening to it, he says he thought about "how it was that Loudon particularly related to Poole - the humor, the clarity, the simplicity, the wise guy attitude, and, occasionally, an unapologetic emotional sincerity." In December 2007, he proposed recording songs that Poole had recorded, along with writing new songs on the artist's life and times. After the success of a demo Wainwright recorded of the "The Deal", a traditional song performed by Poole that was a huge hit in 1925 (it sold 100,000 copies at a time when there were only 600,000 phonograph players in existence), Connette says, "I knew we were onto something." Shortly afterwards, Wainwright wrote what was to become the album's title track, "High Wide & Handsome". With that, the project started to come together.
Besides wanting to pay tribute to Poole, Wainwright and Connette had another purpose in creating High Wide & Handsome. Despite his significant contributions to the development of country music - Poole had already had several hits before country greats Jimmie Rodgers
and the Carter Family
recorded their first songs in 1927 - he has yet to be named to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wainwright and Connette hope their album will help win Poole induction into the Hall and earn him the recognition they believe he deserves. Taking this a step further, in early August 2009, just before High Wide & Handsomes release, Wainwright and two of the musicians featured on the album, David Mansfield and Chaim Tannenbaum, performed a set of material from the album in a concert at the Hall of Fame's Ford Theater.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
. The album, a double-CD released on August 18, 2009 on 2nd Story Sound, pays tribute to singer and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
picker Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole was an American old time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 to 1930.-Biography:...
(1892–1931). It features 30 tracks, including new versions of songs made popular by Poole from 1925 through 1930, as well as original songs on Poole's turbulent life by Wainwright and producer Dick Connette.
More than 25 artists contributed to the album, including Wainwright's children, Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...
and Lucy Wainwright Roche
Lucy Wainwright Roche
Lucy Wainwright Roche is an American singer-songwriter, and the daughter of musicians, Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche. Preceded by two EPs, 8 Songs and 8 More, Roche released her debut album, Lucy in October 2010....
, all singer-songwriters in their own right; his sister, singer-songwriter Sloan Wainwright
Sloan Wainwright
Sloan Wainwright is an artist and member of the American independent music scene. Her musical style consists of a combination of folk, rock, jazz, and blues, an approach which owes itself to her time writing and performing throughout the Greenwich Village.-Family:Sloan Wainwright is a younger...
; Maggie, Suzzy
Suzzy Roche
Suzzy Roche , originally from Park Ridge, New Jersey, is best known for her work with the female vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre...
and Terre Roche of The Roches
The Roches
The Roches are a female vocal group of three songwriting Irish-American sisters from Park Ridge, New Jersey, known for their "unusual" and "rich" harmonies, quirky lyrics, and casually comedic stage performances.The Roches have been active as performers and recording artists since the mid-1970s,...
; Chris Thile
Chris Thile
Christopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
, mandolinist and vocalist for the former acoustic group Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
; and Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur is an American founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts; a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days; and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter....
, a founding member of the 1960s group Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Jim Kweskin
Jim Kweskin is the founder of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, with Fritz Richmond, Mel Lyman, and Geoff and Maria Muldaur...
.
The album won the 2010 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Traditional Folk Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording.An award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was also presented...
.
Background
In the 70-page booklet that accompanies the album, Wainwright recalls having first heard of Poole in the early 1970s through folksinger Patrick SkyPatrick Sky
Patrick Sky is a musician, singer and songwriter of Irish and Native American ancestry...
. He was at Sky's home in Rhode Island, and Sky played the Poole novelty song "Awful Hungry Hash House". Wainwright found it hilarious, and over the next few years learned other songs by the North Carolina picker. He also became intrigued by stories of Poole's life - his days as a mill worker, his stint as a semi-pro baseball player, his success as one of country music's first stars, and the alcoholism that led to his early death.
Wainwright admits to identifying with Poole, whom he describes as a "rambling, hard-drinking, crazy Southern showman." He initially thought of writing a biographical film on Poole's life and fantasized about playing the lead part, but it never came to anything. Instead, some three decades later, he and Connette collaborated in recording what Wainwright refers to as "a sonic bio-pic of sorts."
Connette conceived the idea for the album after giving Wainwright a copy of the three-CD collection Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music (Columbia, 2005). He also bought a copy for himself, and in listening to it, he says he thought about "how it was that Loudon particularly related to Poole - the humor, the clarity, the simplicity, the wise guy attitude, and, occasionally, an unapologetic emotional sincerity." In December 2007, he proposed recording songs that Poole had recorded, along with writing new songs on the artist's life and times. After the success of a demo Wainwright recorded of the "The Deal", a traditional song performed by Poole that was a huge hit in 1925 (it sold 100,000 copies at a time when there were only 600,000 phonograph players in existence), Connette says, "I knew we were onto something." Shortly afterwards, Wainwright wrote what was to become the album's title track, "High Wide & Handsome". With that, the project started to come together.
Besides wanting to pay tribute to Poole, Wainwright and Connette had another purpose in creating High Wide & Handsome. Despite his significant contributions to the development of country music - Poole had already had several hits before country greats Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
and the Carter Family
Carter Family
The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country...
recorded their first songs in 1927 - he has yet to be named to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wainwright and Connette hope their album will help win Poole induction into the Hall and earn him the recognition they believe he deserves. Taking this a step further, in early August 2009, just before High Wide & Handsomes release, Wainwright and two of the musicians featured on the album, David Mansfield and Chaim Tannenbaum, performed a set of material from the album in a concert at the Hall of Fame's Ford Theater.
Track list
Personnel
- Loudon Wainwright IIILoudon Wainwright IIILoudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
– banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, liner notesLiner notesLiner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
, photo courtesy - Paul Asaro – pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- C.J. Camerieri – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, French hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, brassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents... - Dick Connette – arranger, cymbalCymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, drums (bass), backing vocals, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, liner notes, vocal arrangement, song notes - Paula Court – photography
- Michael Davis – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Peter Ecklund – trumpet, whistleWhistlingHuman whistling is the production of sound by means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. Whistling can be achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing or sucking air through the hole...
(human) - Danielle Farina – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Erik Friedlander – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Rayna Gellert – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Scott Hull – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Milt Kramer – photography
- Scott Lehrer – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Stewart Lerman – engineer
- Dan "D Unit" Levine – trombone, euphoniumEuphoniumThe euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced"...
- Tim Luntzel – bass
- Dana Lyn – violin
- David MansfieldDavid MansfieldDavid Mansfield is an American violinist, mandolin player, guitarist, pedal steel guitar player, and composer....
– bass, dobroDobroDobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, violin, backing vocals, stringString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
arrangements - Greil MarcusGreil MarcusGreil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
– liner notes
- Rob Moose – acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, mandolin, violin, arranger, national steel guitar, tenor guitarTenor guitar1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar... - Geoff MuldaurGeoff MuldaurGeoff Muldaur is an American founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band of Cambridge, Massachusetts; a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days; and an accomplished solo guitarist, singer, and songwriter....
– banjo, arranger - Matt Munisteri – banjo, guitar, arranger
- Ben Perowsky – drums
- Dave Roche – backing vocals
- Maggie Roche – vocals, backing vocals
- Suzzy RocheSuzzy RocheSuzzy Roche , originally from Park Ridge, New Jersey, is best known for her work with the female vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre...
– backing vocals - Terre Roche – backing vocals, vocal arrangement
- Marcus Rojas – tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- Kinney Rorrer – liner notes, photo courtesy
- Stefan Schatz – drums
- Johnny Lee Schell – engineer
- Wade Schuman – harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
- Chaim Tannenbaum – banjo, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, vocals, backing vocals
- Chris Thile – mandolin, backing vocals
- Alex Venguer – engineer, mixing
- Martha WainwrightMartha WainwrightMartha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...
– backing vocals - Rufus WainwrightRufus WainwrightRufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
– backing vocals - Sloan WainwrightSloan WainwrightSloan Wainwright is an artist and member of the American independent music scene. Her musical style consists of a combination of folk, rock, jazz, and blues, an approach which owes itself to her time writing and performing throughout the Greenwich Village.-Family:Sloan Wainwright is a younger...
– backing vocals - Paul Woodiel – violin