Tim O'Brien Albums (16)
What The Critics Say
In the early fall of 2005, Tim O'Brien simultaneously released two albums, Cornbread Nation and Fiddler's Green, on Sugar Hill. And while both dig deep into the fabric of American roots music, the albums also revealed O'Brien's split musical personality, a split that dates back to his work with Hot Rize/Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers during the 1980s. Cornbread Nation gives birth to the more expansive side of his neo-traditional core, allowing him to borrow from country and soul, and to meld instruments as varied as electric guitar and congas to a folk base. The opening cut, "Hold On," features an infectious hillbilly-rock beat, driven by Kenny Vaughan's electric guitar and Kenny Malone's rhythmic base, while the traditional "Moses" affects a gospel feel thanks to the presence of a small choir. "The Foggy Foggy Dew," on the other hand, co-opts a very mellow Western swing, while "Walkin' Boss" comes close -- save the presence of a drum kit -- to bluegrass. Eclecticism, then, rules the day on Cornbread Nation, with players and instruments changing from song to song. Far from scattered, though, the album is underpinned by the dominance of traditional songs like "House of the Rising Son" and "Boat Up the River." Further unity is provided by O'Brien's expressive vocals and exuberant performances by everyone involved. A couple of these songs, especially "Moses," are too long, and the O'Brien originals, like the title track, lack the fire that made his work with Darrell Scott so exciting on Real Time in 2000. Overall, though, O'Brien shows himself capable of adding to tradition on Cornbread Nation without stripping the raw authenticity from these old songs. Experienced with Fiddler's Green, the album represents O'Brien's continued exploration and updating of the best of American roots music. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In the early fall of 2005, Tim O'Brien simultaneously released two albums, Cornbread Nation and Fiddler's Green, on Sugar Hill. And while both dig deep into the fabric of American roots music, the albums also revealed O'Brien's split musical personality, a split that dates back to his work with Hot Rize/Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers during the 1980s. Fiddler's Green gives birth to the more conservative side of his neo-traditional core while still allowing him to delve into Celtic and Appalachian folk, bluegrass, and old-timey. Much of the material here, as on Cornbread Nation, is traditional, featuring well-worn icons like "Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden" and "Buffalo Skinners." As one might guess, the arrangements are fairly low-key, featuring simple banjo/guitar/mandolin setups with a few odds and ends -- bouzouki, flutes, and percussion -- thrown in to keep things interesting. The performances on Fiddler's Green are well wrought but, perhaps because of the conservative nature of the project, a bit stolid. "Buffalo Skinners" proceeds at a steady pace for over five minutes, and O'Brien, despite his fine vocal, really doesn't bring anything new to this Western saga. This is far different than his radical reworking of "Little Sadie" on 2000's Real Time with Darrell Scott. Oddly, some of the liveliest tracks, "Train on the Island" and Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain," don't surface until the last third of the album. Fans will more than likely find Fiddler's Green enjoyable if not revelatory, while skeptics will wonder if O'Brien should've taken the best cuts from both releases and made one great album. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Traveler arrives like some horseman from the dusty past. His news is blunt, if not apocalyptic, with warnings that the future promises only "rotting flesh and broken bone." His chaps are stained with blood shed during the Civil War, and the trail he's followed from then until now runs alongside the Mississippi before melting into "a road without end" that winds back toward where our memories began. O'Brien lays all this out with help from some impressive players, but even the often incendiary Béla Fleck joins with them in toning down the fireworks and creating evocative settings through the most minimal gestures -- a slow-motion guitar arpeggio, a keening fiddle, a note here or there to complement O'Brien's relaxed delivery. It's significant, perhaps, that the album opens with "Kelly Joe's Shoes," an ode to a pair of beat-up sneakers that gave O'Brien some pretty good mileage, and ends with "Less & Less," which celebrates the joys of moving through life with as little baggage as possible. From music through message, Traveler just about gets it right. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Itinerant American folk musician Tim O'Brien has been on a tear since 1996's Red on Blonde, bluegrass interpretations of Bob Dylan songs (and don't laugh, it stands as one of the very finest Dylan tributes ever recorded). Since that time he has issued collaborations with Dirk Powell and John Hermann (Songs From the Mountain -- inspired by the novel Cold Mountain) and Darrell Scott (Real Time), as well as issuing the original inspiration for this recording, The Crossing in 1999, which offered a rootsy musician's ear-view of how Irish music informed the folk traditions of the American South and found a home in a mutated yet no less soulful form. Two Journeys is The Crossing's mirror image. This album shows O'Brien -- and a company of the British Isles and American South's finest musicians -- looking toward the coastlines of Ireland to express those traditions as they prepared to leave the homeland for the "new world." Digging deep into his own bag of folk songs, traditional ballads, and a few slick bluegrass moves, O'Brien has managed to tell a story, mostly with his own songs, of the cultural miscegenation that took place in the vast Irish exodus during and after the potato famine. From the opening track, "Turning Around," we hear the song of a captain in the middle of the Atlantic, looking back on the homeland with a sense of loss, regret, and heartbreak, and toward the new with a shred of hope, fear, and trepidation. This leads into the glorious swagger of "Mick Ryan's Lament" by Robert Lee Dunlap. The tune extrapolates "Garryowen," George Custer's marching song that was likely his final one at Little Big Horn. And then we're off, deep into the middle ground of a sea rife for the picking with fiddle tunes, jigs, reels, bluegrass, folk-blues and Celtic soul. With help from the aforementioned Yankees, and Paddy Keenan on uilleann pipes, traditional percussionist Kevin Burke, keyboard work from Triona No Drohmnaill, and the vocal support of Karan Casey and Maura O'Connell, O'Brien doesn't merely create facsimiles of Irish songs, but showcases the log, knotty rope between traditions, being not part one or the other but fully both. The most moving track on the disc, and also its most spooky, is "Demon Lover," a duet between O'Brien and Casey. It's a ballad so old it nearly dates antiquity, the rendering here, which doesn't even resemble modern versions, is chock full of pathos, lust, and regret. This may very well be his finest outing. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Music has occasionally been born of a couple of friends playing both new and familiar songs in a relaxed setting. Words that are often used to describe the music they make are "natural" or "unaffected." Examples would include John Hartford's Morning Bugle, Hartford, David Grisman, and Mike Seeger's Retrograss, and Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott's Real Time. The songs on Real Time were recorded in Scott's living room over the period of a week. Both musicians play multiple instruments including banjo, mandolin, guitar, and bouzouki; they also exchange lead vocals and sing some very fine harmony. Both the song choice and songwriting add to this project. Hank Williams'"Weary Blues from Waiting" receives an acoustic revision, with both singers sharing lead vocals and providing affecting harmony. O'Brien sings a charged version of "Little Sadie" driven by Scott's aggressive guitar playing. Part of the beauty of this album is how fresh and vital these traditional songs become with these simple and straightforward arrangements. Real Time also contains a handful of refined originals, including O'Brien's "Walk Beside Me" and "I'm Not Gonna Forget You." Scott has written the impressive "There Ain't No Easy Way," complete with the same soulful singing found on his last release, Family Tree. There are even moments when Scott's vocal style reminds one of the soulful delivery of Little Feat's Lowell George. Real Time brings together two artists who love to make music and who give the impression that making good music is as simple as hanging out with friends. While this may not be how all good music is made, it has produced a gem of an album in the hands of Scott and O'Brien. Fans of both artists, and fans of good traditional and folk music, should enjoy this one. ~ Ronnie Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It might be a cliché to say that to understand where you are and where you're going, you must know where you've been, but it's a very accurate cliché -- especially when it comes to music. If you're going to have a thorough understanding of the history of country, bluegrass, and Anglo-American folk, it's important to have some knowledge of the music that paved the way for those forms -- namely, the music that immigrants from the British Isles brought with them to the U.S. On The Crossing, singer/instrumentalist Tim O'Brien does a fine job reminding listeners how great a role Celtic music played in the development of Anglo-American styles. As a vocalist, O'Brien shows how Irish and Scottish ballad traditions have influenced American folk and country, and as an instrumentalist, O'Brien (who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and other instruments) shows how the jigs and reels of Ireland and Scotland paved the way for Appalachian bluegrass. A fine storyteller, he describes the experiences of Irish immigrants to the U.S. on gems like "The Crossing" and "Lost Little Children" -- and on the humorous, Bob Dylan-influenced "Talkin' Cavan," O'Brien (himself an Irish-American from West Virginia) recalls traveling to Ireland in 1998 to visit the land of his ancestors. This CD is not to be missed. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
'When No One's Around'
Release Date 8/19/1997
Tracks 13
Label Sugar Hill
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
This is one of Tim O'Brien's most engaging projects. Known as a writer, he chooses here to co-write with others, including sister Mollie O'Brien, Hal Ketchum, and the elusive Danny O'Keefe. The songs range from celebratory ("Out On the Rolling Sea") to sardonic ("How Come I Ain't Dead") to reflective ("First Days of Fall"). In spite of his attempts to the contrary, O'Brien is still his own best writer, with kudos especially to "Think About Last Night" and "First Days of Fall." The feel of this music is more mainstream country than some of his other albums. The players are quite good, with high praise for drummer John Gardner for his accents and exclamation marks. ~ William Ashford, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In case you had forgotten, this album will remind you how pertinent and beautiful the songs of Bob Dylan are. The trouble with Tim O'Brien is that he makes it seem so easy; the challenge of reinterpreting classics may escape many. The repertoire covers decades and styles in one giant stroke. The playing is, as usual, impeccable. The inclusion of "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" is excellent; if only he hadn't been in such a hurry on "Forever Young." ~ William Ashford, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
True fans of Tim O'Brien find all of his albums to be excellent, some simply moreso than others. This one falls somewhere in the middle. There's the expected eclectic choice of material, and at least a few killer tunes. In this case, "Brother Wind," "One Girl Cried," and the continuing saga of "Daddy's On the Roof Again" fill the bill. A nice album, featuring the usual suspects. ~ William Ashford, All Music Guide
