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Appalachian mountain dulcimer player and classically trained jazz pianist combine forces in a smorgasbord or roots, rhythm and groove. 40 years apart in age, Rick Scot blur all boundaries in a smorgasbord of folk, blues and soul. In a word, they cook!
ROOTS & GROOVES is a multi genre conversation across the generations spiced with improvisation, innovation and humour.
Recorded live from the floor in a single day at Mountain View Studio in Nanaimo, BC, produced by Valley Hennell, recorded and mixed by Rick Salt.
1 Outside (4:23) Simple solutions to life’s complexities served up on a platter of rock and roll. “Sometimes late at night I’m wondering why, all this living just gonna die…”
2 Middle of Nowhere (6:18) Who says you can’t have musical fun with a bad relationship? A little jazz, a little rock and an abundance of rip it up piano. “Ride that train, only way you think of get a little room, you can be alone…”
3 Lost Soul Man (5:37) Country blues for a hurtin’ heart. “Sometimes late at night when I’m all alone like a lost wolf you can hear me moan…”
4 Let’s Make It Right (4:56) A blues ballad bemoaning why the worse it gets the harder you try. “What is the matter with this heart trying so hard to get back to the start of that long and lonely night?”
5 It’s Only Words (5:26) “It’s only words, no thing will ever be heard…” A waltz that is actually more than words, one of the first songs Rick ever wrote in 1971 beautifully articulated by Nico’s arrangement, never recorded until now.
6 Hurt So Long (3:56) “I’ve been hurt for so long can’t tell the right from no wrong…” To bounce back from being crushed by a friend, try humming this song of many grooves!
7 Funkanatomy (3:24) “Woke up this morning the side of the bed was wrong, I’ve got excuses they run a mile long…’’ An emergency ward for feeling sorry for yourself.
8 Come Home (4:17) “Cut out them things that cut your life, don’t wait around for no doctor’s knife…” Rocking out about the intense emotions of theatre from an actor’s point of view.
9 The Mystery (3:54) “If you forget to breathe we’re gonna have to ask you to leave no matter how much you believe in the dollar…” The only song not written by Rick but by his mentor Max Ochs, we’d tell you what it’s about but that would spoil the mystery. Can Nico play any faster?
10 Bottle People (4:35) “Seems to be a lot of people who need to have bottles so they can eat.” An attempt to find the true heart of those we call homeless, set to variations on Pachelbel’s Canon.
11 Queen of Dreams (4:54) “There are so many things in this world that are hungry and they just want a big bite of you…” A jester’s cry for more matriarchy in a dulcimer duet uplifted by Nico’sl soprano sax.
12 People I Love You (5:57) “I get so excited I can’t help myself, I have to jump, I have to shout I have to call for help…” A Pied Pumkin favourite reimagined with Nico’s raucous piano animating Rick’s swamp jam rhythm.
Nico Rhodes says, “The mixtape of my youth was Beethoven, Charlie Parker and Rick Scott. I wrote Rick a fan letter when I was 8, was gobsmacked by Pied Pumkin when I was 12, when I was 23 he hired me to orchestrate his music for symphony. Performing with my childhood hero is a dream come true!”
Rick Scott says, "Nico Rhodes is on fire. At 27 I was touring far and wide with Pied Pumkin and this harkens back to that kind of unfettered inspiration. Every time we play it’s a new musical conversation. It’s a thrill to hear some of my earliest tunes so reinvigorated by Nico's mastery.”
- Genre
- R&B & Soul
Contains tracks
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