Produced by Lee Townsend
Except tracks 4, 6, 10 & 11 produced by Wayne Horvitz
All compositions written by Bill Frisell (Friz-Tone Music/BMI) except
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams (Sony/ATV/Acuff Rose Music/BMI), “Sugar Baby”, “Shenandoah” and “Sittin’ on Top of the World” (Traditional), “Have a Little Faith In Me” by John Hiatt (Lillybilly Music/BUG/BMI), “Wildwood Flower” by A.P. Carter (PRS/BMI)
Nonesuch Records
Tracks 1, 12 from Ghost Town (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric and acoustic guitars (1), acoustic guitar (12)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Christian Jones
Tracks 2, 7, 9 from Gone, Just Like a Train (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar
Viktor Krauss, bass
Jim Keltner, drums (2, 9), drums and percussion (7)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
Tracks 3, 14 from The Willies (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar (3), acoustic and electric guitars (14)
Danny Barnes, banjo
Keith Lowe, bass
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Tucker Martine
Tracks 4, 11 from Nashville (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric guitar (4), acoustic guitar (11)
Jerry Douglas, dobro
Viktor Krauss, bass
Recording Engineer: Roger Moutenot
Tracks 5, 8, 15 from Good God, Happy Man (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric guitar and loop (5), acoustic guitar (8), electric and acoustic guitars (15)
Ry Cooder, electric and Ripley guitar (8)
Greg Leisz, pedal steel (5, 15)
Wayne Horvitz, organ (5, 15)
Viktor Krauss, bass
Jim Keltner, drums (5, 8), drums and percussion (15)
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
Track 6 from Is That You? (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar
Recording Engineer: Jay Follette
Mixing Engineer: Roger Moutenot
Track 10 from Have a Little Faith (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, guitar
Kermit Driscoll, bass
Joey Baron, drums
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Joe Ferla
Track 13 from Blues Dream (Nonesuch Records)
Bill Frisell, electric guitar
Greg Leisz, dobro
David Piltch, bass
Kenny Wollesen, drums
Recording and Mixing Engineer: Judy Clapp
REVIEWS
As an artist who’s spent his life gently dissolving the boundaries between ‘genres’, Mr. Frisell would doubtless afford himself a quiet smile that his songs should now be anthologized under such tags as ‘Folk’. Even Elvis Costello’s sleeve notes recognize that many contemporary listeners barely recognize the ‘old stop signs’ of ‘jazz’ or ‘folk’. And if the music company does insist on sifting Frisell’s music into various buckets, then surely this one should be tagged ‘Country’, because there lie the roots Frisell taps in this collection. But even given that, most songs here are originals, while the Country guests, a halcyon bunch, colour barely half the tracks. So the country we’re visiting here is really Frisellia, with its familiar landscapes of echoey effects, sweet melody, suspended chords, an horizonless sense of space, aching beauty, tempos reduced to an airy stillness, deep affection and a blessed freedom from irony. The classic here is ‘Shenandoah’ a duet with Ry Cooder that’s as wide as that rolling river – and is dedicated to the ridiculously unremembered Johnny Smith. Just file under damn fine music. And start saving for Volume II. – Andy Robson, Jazzwise