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MP3 Pierce Edens and the Dirty Work - Party Dress
11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, ROCK: Roots Rock
Details:
Despite what his singing voice suggests, Pierce Edens does not chew on
gravel, swallow sandpaper or have a small bass resonator lodged
somewhere deep inside his chest. For years, the local songwriter says
he tried to "sweeten up" his voice. Thankfully it resisted, because on
his debut full length album, Party Dress, his screams sound like the
wise product of a thousand years'' worth of wars and loves gone wrong,
as if he just woke up from a life of hard drinking and is now ready to
tell his tale.
He told me some of that tale over beers and pizza on a recent night in
the West Asheville home he shares with his wife, Jane Edens, who sings
in The Barrel House Mamas. Over the years, Edens and his various
backing bands have teamed up with the Mamas for countless shows and
collaborations. The Mamas cover Edens'' "Spirits" on their recently
released debut, gathering, and lend back up vocals to Party Dress.
Together, they have cultivated something of a roots and folk rock
revival in West Asheville, which has been enthusiastically supported
by the Westville Pub.
The place Edens refers to as simply "the Pub" or his "home" has a rich
history of not only showcasing, but employing some of Asheville''s most
promising young musicians. Members of Menage got their start
bartending and playing there, and on any given night patrons might now
be served by any three of the four members of Agrolola. Edens used to
work behind the bar and now regularly hosts the venue''s Monday open
mike nights. He releases Party Dress at the Pub on Saturday, December
9.
Many of the road-tested tunes on the disk will be familiar to long
time Edens fans, but they''ve never been captured like this before.
With the help of producer Adam Johnson and his new band, the Dirty
Work, Edens transforms the solo acoustic blues of his 2004 EP, four
songs, into works of angsty rock ''n'' roll.
Matt Smith''s wailing lap and pedal steel lines define the new
instrumentation, breathing fire and soul into barn burners like "baby
doll" and "pretty," and weeping gently along with Edens'' deep moans on
more reflective songs like "creeping vines." Many of the tracks would
be right at home on Americana and AAA radio. Edens credits his
bandmates for helping take his songs to "a whole new level."
"They have been right there with me on the clay every time, taking the
song further than I thought it was going to go or taking it in a
different direction than I thought it was going to go and making it
better," he says. "In general, every time I write a song I get excited
thinking, ''oh, I wonder what they''re going to do with this.''"
The quartet came together at the urging of drummer David Mack, who in
addition to playing drums with Edens and the Barrel House Mamas, plays
bass with GFE. He introduced Edens to bassist Micheal Olivier and
Smith, who also plays in The Trainwrecks. Mack says that when he
introduced Edens to Smith, his old friend from their days growing up
in Charlottesville, VA, it was "like they got married. They just set
up in the living room and played for two weeks. Me and Michael didn''t
even come to practice."
All of them except Smith were originally drawn to Asheville to attend
Warren Wilson College. For Edens, who graduated with a degree in
Philosophy in 2003, it wasn''t such a long trip. He was born and raised
in Brush Creek, Madison County, were he grew up learning songs from
old-time legend Sheila Adams and sitting in on jams at Marshall''s
Depot with well known bluegrass players like Josh Goforth. He sees the
songs he writes as a fusion of those experiences growing up in the
country with a later love for grunge.
"All growing up, most of the music I heard was live, in school, or at
church, or at community gatherings," says Edens. "And the kind of
music that it was was old time- ballads, hymns, old songs. I never
really thought about that, it was just there. I kept that kind of
music around, put it side by side with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in
Chains. And that, I think is kind of where my music resides. All that
stuff shines through, and I think it''s my job to attempt to not filter
any of it. I think that''s what honest music is -- not thinking about
that, and just letting it be what it is."
He brought the band back home with him to make Party Dress, literally
staying at his folk''s place and recording the album over the course of
a single whiskey fueled weekend last summer at Silvermine Studios just
down the road in Marshall.
"It was so much fun, great, probably one of the best times I''ve ever
had," reflects Edens. "We didn''t map out our songs so much. We just
went in there and played, kicked it up. We caught what we do. That''s
all we were ever after."
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