Joel Rafael Band – Woodeye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie
This exquisite salute was released on the 90th anniversary of the seminal folk singer’s birth at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in his hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma.
Joel Rafael has worked the folk circuit for nearly three decades in various groups, as a solo performer and in a duo with Rosie Flores. The current Joel Rafael Band — Joel (guitar and lead vocals), his daughter Jamaica Rafael (violin, viola and vocals), Carl Johnson (lead acoustic guitar) and Jeff Berkley (percussion) — was formed in 1994.
Woodeye, the group’s fourth disc, is the first to be wholly dedicated to Guthrie. The fourteen beautifully played and recorded cuts include a dozen Woody compositions, another (“Dance A Little Longer”) that marries a ‘found’ Guthrie lyric to a Rafael tune, and the moving closer (“Talking Oklahoma Hills”), which Joel wrote for the project.
Rafael’s slightly raspy vocal style favors, but doesn’t attempt to mimic, Guthrie’s; what really pushes it all across is his remarkable warmth, gentle humor and a palpable love of the material. Producer/bassist Dan Rothchild displays an unerring ability to capture this fresh band’s symbiotic grooves, allowing the timeless songs to expand and breathe without becoming too reverent or precious.
Woodeye features guest appearances by Jennifer Warnes, Ellis Paul, Van Dyke Parks and Matt Cartsonis, but the entire presentation is reined back just a bit — always keeping the songs and the stories front-and-center.