COMPOSERS: Frisell
LABELS: Nonesuch
WORKS: Assorted
PERFORMER: Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz (guitars), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Viktor Krauss (bass
CATALOGUE NO: 7559799308
Michael Disfarmer was a solitary amateur photographer who took pictures of local people in post-war rural Arkansas. Guitarist Bill Frisell was introduced to the work by Chuck Helm, director of performing arts at the Wexner Center in Ohio. He knew that the evocative, black and white shots would strike a chord with Frisell.
The guitarist has produced a series of small but detailed musical sketches that describe small-town American lives in a melancholic, off-kilter manner. His music with its twisted bluegrass tinge often comes over as a kind of chronicle, with country-style fiddle and steel guitar completing the time warp effect.
Frisell always succeeds with the unpredictable: Disfarmer, the sound of a photographer at work, is another instant classic. Take a look at the pictures on www.disfarmer.com while playing the CD. Garry Booth