Deadwood

In the age of autotune, it sometimes seems that music is somehow becoming less...human. It sometimes seems that a rift is being built between people and music that they can no longer make with their hands and voices alone. Thankfully, there is a sort of reaction to this, a bridging of this rift, if you will, by new folk and folk rock bands such as Gillian Welch and the ever popular Mumford and Sons. Now, a new band, whose work was written on front porches and bedrooms, and whose members grew up with red East Texas dirt under their fingernails, are paving a path of their own into this new, yet wonderfully familiar territory.
“We started out as a bunch of back porch pickers,” Jeff Dickerson, said. “We’ve always dreamed of having a family band, and so we decided to do it.” Created by Michael Isbell (vocals, guitar, mandolin,) his wife and partner Sarah Isbell (percussion) their daughter Maddie Isbell (vocals, harmony) and Sarah’s father, Jeff Dickerson (guitar, vocals,) Deadwood is truly in touch with its roots. But they are not the only members who bring some true artistry to the table. John Fox’s guitar, resonator and bass are ever present throughout the album, building suspense and serving to send every lyric straight into the listener’s heart. Josh Gray’s bass thumps along like a low, steady heartbeat, adding to the feeling that Deadwood’s music has somehow incorporated your own heartbeat. Also lending his excellent percussion skills to the album is Grammy-winning guest artist Brady Blade, who has played as part of Emmylou Harris’s band, Spyboy, as well as with Steve Earle and the Dukes, Dave Matthews and Friends, and with Buddy and Julie Miller. Each band member provides an important element in Deadwood’s earnest, intimate, Southern Gothic sound. This is apparent as Deadwood successfully paints a portrait of a community--a family-- coming together to express itself through song.
But, unlike the usual sort of “back porch pickers,” Deadwood went the extra mile to produce a high-quality album.The album was recorded at Blade Studios in Shreveport, a state-of-the-art recording studio which offers the best of the best when it comes to recording, post-production, engineering and so much more. Chris Bell, chief engineer at Blade Studios, has worked with Erykah Badu, Destiny’s Child, U2, and the Eagles to name a few clients. This first album by Deadwood was also mastered expertly by Lursson Mastering, one of the industry’s leading mastering companies with gold and platinum albums as well as several Grammys and Oscars under its belt.
But Deadwood stays true to its roots. With its gritty yet melodic folk rock, Deadwood weaves a series of stories that echo back the true heart of the Southern experience.
“What we really strove for was to make the album as honest as we could...to make it feel true,” said Michael Isbell as I interviewed him in his studio. He and John Fox describe the album as “honest and organic,” and very focused on telling a good story through song. And Deadwood has certainly done just that. Each song is rooted in something very personal experienced by members of the band, and, rather than dress the music up with synthesized bells and whistles, they chose to record everything acoustically. “The Need,” the song they have chosen as their first single, is hard-hitting and insightful, with vocals by Michael and harmony by his daughter, Maddie. In it, Michael’s voice is raw and expressive--a voice that can really make you feel the meaning behind the haunting lyrics, while Maddie (whose special brand of pitch-perfect blue-eyed soul is present in many of the songs on the album) rocks harder than any ten-year-old I’ve ever heard of. The rest of the album covers a variety of hard-hitting themes, such as the ravages of war (“Black and Blue,” “The Wall,”) and the thought of living without a loved one (“Without You”) ending with a song of resilience, and life (“Pappy’s Song.”) “It’s sort of an unintentional concept alb - Panola Watchman