Workin' For The Music Man - Daniel Romano

Workin’ For the Music Man

Daniel Romano
You’ve Changed Records.

SCQ Rating: 79%

Although one needs to look no further than Attack In Black to admire the songwriting of Daniel Romano, a more apt reference point lies in 2009’s ode-to-folk Daniel, Fred & Julie. While reworking some acoustic classics alongside Fred Squire and Julie Doiron, Romano tossed a few originals that flowed so effortlessly into the mix, you’d be forgiven for thinking ‘The Runner’ or ‘Your Love’ belonged to the same cherished legacy as (Oh My Darling) ‘Clementine’. Romano played a critical role in that collection’s success and brings that same rootsy confidence to his first solo full-length.

As with Daniel, Fred & Julie, Romano seeks inspiration by looking to the past on Workin’ For the Music Man, gathering new material and session-players while foregoing the previous collaboration’s strict mono-only recording rule. Featuring contributions from the songwriter’s family and loved ones, the disc splits between whiskey-worn country-blues and bare-boned folk, utilizing full-band rowdiness or a lonesome, finger-picked six-string. Album highlights stem from both patches; ‘On the Night’ gives gracious nods to good decisions (namely, the expert fiddle-playing, his girlfriend Mischa's lovely vocals) and breathes fresh life into country’s carved-up bar-booths while ‘She Was the World To Me’ rests heavily upon Romano’s gut-wrenching vocals and a guitar, alone. The variety of songwriting feels wide-ranging - a few even sound as if they were recorded live, although you’d never guess before the crowd starts clapping - but all of Workin’ For the Music Man is painted with the same grit of authentic classics by Hank Williams, Springsteen and Petty.

Lighthearted as the mood of its recording comes off, Workin’ For the Music Man suffers slightly for its ease with the odd track too merry and boisterous to reward repeat listens (the organ-heavy ‘Poor Girls of Ontario’, the opening title track). At their worst, these rare slips sound like well-arranged sketches but, to give credit where it’s due, they also keep the pace breezy and unpredictable. And maybe they just require more listening-time; really, despite its casual, off-the-cuff impression, Workin’ For the Music Man has continued to win me over, boasting songwriting rich with surprises and moments that’ll cut you when you least expect it. As surely as we’ve yet to see the limits of Daniel Romano’s talent, I’ve yet to wear out the good company imparted in Workin’ For the Music Man.

Daniel, Fred & Julie - Daniel, Fred & Julie

Daniel, Fred & Julie

Daniel, Fred & Julie
You’ve Changed Records.

SCQ Rating: 83%

People roll their eyes at the mention of supergroups for good reason. When they aren’t comprised of ex-pats from zeitgeist-grabbing rock bands, they’re typically friends who treat the proceedings as a side-project to garner some extra press. From Chickenfoot and Audioslave to last fall’s Monsters of Folk, how else can one explain such shrugging results but that all the ego-checking and compromising that comes with group-work ends up creating homogenous indifference? Well, our collective impatience with lackluster supergroups received a breathless slap in the face in December with Daniel, Fred & Julie’s self-titled collaboration, which reworks a bounty of classic folk songs while adding a few lovely originals to the genre.

Dealing with compositions dating back nearly a century, Daniel Romano (of Attack In Black), Fred Squire (of Calm Down It’s Monday) and the ever-awesome Julie Doiron met up in Sackville, New Brunswick to hammer out this love-letter to folk on a four-track recorder. Such unassuming production – entirely mono, kinda distant-sounding – provides an old-fashioned warmth that the old classics still resonate with, but the main draw to this collaboration is hearing three singular songwriters breathing fresh air into well-trodden covers. The updated arrangements of ‘I Dream of Jeanie’ and ‘Down By the Weeping Willow’ are gorgeous renditions, delicately perfected with three-part harmonies but performed with a brisk, take-it-or-leave-it confidence. The effortless brilliance of this collection runs deepest on cuts like ‘The Gambler and His Bride’ – a finger-picked murder-ballad – as the grim subject matter and moods of these songs never sour the listener’s enjoyment.

As a great fan of Daniel Romano’s work in Attack In Black, this self-titled effort has the additional allure of containing some Romano-penned originals. Although ‘Runner’ is sung (rather perfectly, I might add) by Squire and ‘Your Love’ is a low-key choral sung by all three, these new songs are sewn so neatly into the classics, I had to research which tracks were written recently. Whether teary-eyed with a beer or narrating tragic tales of the heart, Daniel, Fred & Julie is a heartwarming release of covers and originals that suitably feels both familiar and new again. And suddenly, that Monsters of Folk collaboration seems even less relevant...