Track Listing

1. Ships
2. Moonglow
3. Patience
4. Buckets of Rain
5. Whole World Round
6. Ithaca
7. Lovely as the Day Is Long
8. Moonshiner
9. Redbird Waltz
10. Lullaby 101
11. I Gotta Get Drunk
12. Lighthouse Light
13. You Are the Everything
14. Down By the Sally Garden
15. Redbird
16. Drunk Lullaby
17. Hold On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24064 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Customer Reviews

The Fun Is Contagious
Redbird's debut recording is a very sweet collaboration between Jeffrey Foucault, Kris Delmhorst & Peter Mulvey. While none of these artists is a household name, each has established an individual solo career and come together here with a blending of sound. Their collaborative work together is exquisite. While each is represented by at least one track that they penned, the emphasis is on the music. Part of the charm of the set is the diversity and range of songwriters whose material they perform. This was apparently recorded in Mark Olson's living room in Fort Atkinson WI & has an informal feel.

R.E.M.'s "You Are the Everything" is a bright acoustic flower, "I'm very scared for this world, I'm very scared for me, Eviscerate your memory." "Lighthouse Light" by Ry Cavanaugh is a dreamy folk melody with Kris' lovely alto, "There is light in the distance, It's coming in from the west, There is light in the distance, Thinking of the one that I love best." One of my favorite tracks is the gorgeous "Patience" written by Mark Sandman who was the lead singer for the band Morphine. Kris' delivery is stunning as she calls to allow for time to heal. "Moonglow" is a standard that Benny Goodman recorded in the 1930s and has been covered by jazz artists like Duke Ellington & Count Basie as well as female vocalists like Billie Holiday & Joni James with a new version on Carly Simon's soon-to-be-released "Moonlight Serenade" CD. Redbird's acoustic version has a jazz flavor but is recast as an intimate folk gem with all three voices blending, "I started praying, 'Dear Lord please let this last.'" Mitch Jayne was a member of the Dillards who recorded his song "The Whole World Round." Redbird's version has a bluegrass flavor and polishes his lovely melody. "Buckets of Rain" is a classic Dylan song with one of his best melodies and great lyrics that Redbird nail in this catchy quiet version. The set concludes with a version of a song Tom Waits penned & first recorded on his "Mule Variations" CD. This is an excellent acoustic folk set from a group that obviously is having a blast playing together. The fun is contagious. Enjoy!

Living room session
Before anything else is said, it is important to understand that this is a "living room session," recorded around a single microphone. It's something more than an off-the-cuff jam session, but definitely something less than a proper studio album. This is a pro in that you get a nice "live" kind of vibe, but a hugely frustrating con in the places where it's painfully obvious that they are not properly miked.

The music itself is beautiful. Simple as that.

This would be an amazing bootleg (and actually that's pretty much what it sounds like), but for a commercial release it shouldn't be too much to ask to hear everyone clearly.

best in show 2006
Okay, not even sure that it came out in 2006. However, that is when I first heard it, so that is what counts. I really hope they put out another album - even if it is only half as good as this one, it will be better than 95% of what I get to hear most of the time.
Buy it, burn it, steal it, whatever you have to do it is worth it.