THE WAYBACKS - FROM THE PASTURE TO THE FUTURE

THE WAYBACKS
''FROM THE PASTURE TO THE FUTURE''
2006
50:32

1 /The Petrified Man/5:14
2 /From the Pasture To the Future
James Nash/4:55
3 /Helping Me
James Nash/5:13
4 /Bluebird Waltz
Evan Price/4:34
5 /Motorway
Ray Davies/3:53
6 /Hot Kranski
James Nash/4:18
7 /Ninety-One
James Nash/4:12
8 /Armando's Rhumba
Chick Corea/4:21
9 /The Blacksmith
Traditional/5:28
10 /Monkey Pants
James Nash/4:43
11 /Strange Attractor/3:40

Darol Anger /Fiddle
Stevie Coyle /Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Charles Hamilton /Drums, Percussion
Joe Kyle Jr. /Arco Bass, Double Bass, Guitar (Bass), Percussion, Vocals (Background)
Lloyd Maines /Dobro, Producer
James Nash /Archguitar, Baritone (Vocal), Bottleneck Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Electric Baritone), Guitar (Resonator), Mandolin, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Riley Osbourne /Organ
Evan Price /Fiddle
Mark Rubin /Tuba
Christie Winn /Vocals (Background)
Gabe Witcher /Fiddle

REVIEW
by Rick Anderson
The Chicago Tribune says that the Waybacks offer "a near-ideal balance of irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality," and that actually sums it up quite well. This primarily acoustic folk-rock group is irreverent about genre boundaries, jumping gleefully back and forth between the lines that separate blues from bluegrass, rock from jazz, and Celtic music from pop, but they're never so irreverent that they just sound goofy. Their chops are considerable, but (in the studio anyway) they never lapse into wanky self-indulgence. Their discipline and originality are manifest in tightly written, hook-filled songs and unusual arrangements, and all of those qualities come together beautifully in this, the group's fourth album. From the Pasture to the Future offers brilliant instrumental hot jazz ("Monkey Pants," "Hot Kranski"), a sharply rocking kissoff song ("Helping Me," which features the timeless couplet "It's not that you're bad for me/It's just that you're bad"), and a very fine rhumba ("Armando's Rhumba"). It also features a funny folk-rock number titled "Petrified Man" and a beautiful Texas-style dance number called "Bluebird Waltz." the Waybacks are not terribly convincing as purveyors of straight-up traditional Irish music, as "The Blacksmith" demonstrates, but everything else works so well that you hardly even notice that one. Very highly recommended.

BIOGRAPHY
by Craig Harris
The traditional sounds of old-timey string band music is only element of the musical tapestry woven by San Francisco-based quintet the Waybacks. Roots Town Music Magazine called them "a dream combination of punk vandalism and hyper-intelligent, seldom heard, humoristic musicality," while the Winnipeg Free Press praised them for their "unpretentious musicality." Describing their musical approach, www.shoprecords.com wrote, "it's everything from 'Kumbaya'-like folk and cowboy jazz, space jam, celtoid, agnostic gospel, beat poetry, Grappelli-esque swing, and acoustic originals." The Waybacks' sound represents the combined efforts of lead guitar, mandolin player, and vocalist James Nash; fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and Humanatone player and vocalist Chojo Jacques; and rhythm, fingerpicked and Weissenborn slide guitar player, and vocalist Stevie Coyle. A native of Nashville, Nash has been playing guitar since the age of nine. Throughout high school, he studied with renowned Nashville session guitarist Jerry Kimbrough. Relocating to the San Francisco area to attend Stanford University, he became a member of the alt-rock band Occam's Razor. Increasingly drawn to traditional Southern music, he taught himself to play mandolin. In addition to working with the Waybacks, he performs as a soloist and with Lane & the Badass Chicken Bones. Although he initially studied piano and viola, Jacques found his natural voice on the guitar. The instrument was only one step, however, on his musical journey. After playing guitar in a truck stop bar band in East Missoula, MO, he began studying fiddle with the Montana Fiddlers Association. Two years later he added the mandolin, which he played with the Lost Highway Band. Moving to Austin, he became involved with the city's thriving music scene for eight years. At the suggestion of David Grisman, he moved to San Francisco in 1982. In the nearly two decades since, Jacques has become an in-demand session player. The lengthy list of artists with whom he's worked includes Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Johnny Paycheck, Frank Wakefield, and Michael Hedges. Much of the Wayback's irreverent approach is stirred by Coyle, whose resumé includes emceeing killer whale shows, doing standup comedy as one-half of the Reagan Brothers, and performing with satirical folk bands the Foremen and the Frontmen. The Wayback's rhythm section features double bass player and vocalist Joe Kyle, Jr. and drummers Chuck Hamilton, who tours with the group, and Peter Tucker, who performs with the band in the San Francisco area.
http://fp.io/39585aab/