***Free Dobro Tablature for this CD at www.ivanrosenberg.com. Download the album now, and then go to Ivan's website to start learning all the tricks of modern Dobro playing today!***
****CD is permanently out of stock but available here for mp3 download, as well as iTunes and other digital outlets****
Ivan's other CDs are available on CD Baby: "Clawhammer and Dobro," "Ashes and Coals," and "The Lost Coast," as well as collaborative recordings with Billy Cardine, Mighty Squirrel, and others.
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Renowned Dobro and clawhammer banjo player Ivan Rosenberg has released 4 solo CDs as well as collaborative recordings with the likes of Billy Cardine, Mighty Squirrel, Chris Stuart, and The Breakmen. Combining elements of bluegrass, old time, and Americana music, Ivan's original songs have appeared in over 150 TV and film scores including HBO's Making Deadwood, Comedy Central's The Daily Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Warner Brothers' smash hit movie Kangaroo Jack, and the Emmy-nominated documentary Libby, Montana.
Ivan is also in high demand for music workshops, having led seminars at the CBA Music Camp, The British Columbia Bluegrass Workshop, The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, 108 Mile Cabin Fever Workshop, the NBCMS Fall Workshop at Camp He Ho Ha, and The Sore Fingers Summer School in England. Ivan wrote the monthly resonator guitar column for Mel Bay's Guitar Sessions from 2007-2008, and has contributed articles or lessons to Banjo Newsletter, Bluegrass College, and Reso-Nation Academy.
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BACK TO THE PASTURE liner notes by Dave Higgs of Nashville Public Radio:
Along with the fiddle, the resonator guitar, or Dobro®, is perhaps the most expressive of all the bluegrass instruments. Its easy access to microtones, hastened by the use of a slide, gives it a unique ability to emulate the human voice. In the right hands, the resonator guitar is eminently capable of duplicating a myriad of emotions - from a jubilant, euphoric shout all the way to a primeval, gut-wrenching moan. In the right hands, it becomes an instrument of impassioned feeling, dark mystery and great beauty. Ivan Rosenberg has those "right hands."
Ivan understands that great reso playing starts and ends with emphasizing the important parts of the melody. And what melodies he plays on "Back to the Pasture," his sterling follow-up to "The Lost Coast," his highly acclaimed 2001 debut.
"Back to the Pasture" traverses an immense expanse of bluegrassical ground, drawing upon the pop sounds of the Bee Gees, Neanderthal-grass from Wiley & Zeke Morris and eight mesmerizing, memorable and mouth-wateringly fine originals from Ivan's fertile musical imagination. That imagination and flair for the dramatic was operating in overdrive on "Late Night Ramble," co-written with buddy Jason Mowery - a dobrolic romp as big as those spacious Montana skies that inspired it. Ivan and Jason also collaborated on the high, lonesome "Out Among the Corn," which pays instrumental tribute to those endless fields of corn that run rampant in Jason's home state of Indiana.
The group does a fine job bluegrassizing the Bee Gees' "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," which Cliff Waldron originally brought into the bluegrass camp in the early 70's. Thanks to Lost Highway singer Ken Orrick, this improbable tune becomes vintage sounding bluegrass. Eric Uglum handles the lead vocal on the Morris Brothers' plaintive old ballad, "Somebody Loves You Darling," on which Ivan shines with some tasty, relaxed and understated old-school dobro complete with palm harmonics and some of the prettiest fills you'll ever hear.
Ivan is also a sublime clawhammer banjo player and he gets to strut his considerable talents on the chilling, spooky and Ozark-flavored "Devil's Chute," played in tandem with fiddler Chad Clouse of Due West, as well as on "Soda Springs," an exuberant old-timey tour de force.
"Last Light" spotlights the lyrical quality of Ivan's composing - a lush and gorgeous melody that's deeply moving. "Pepperwood Hollow" starts with a measured and moody reso introduction before the band kicks it into high gear. The group really goes to town on the title track, a hard-driving, righteous, ultra-bluegrassy romp that would make Uncle Josh proud.
The backup musicians deserve special praise for their immeasurable contributions to the project. Jason Mowery is a monster on the fiddle and mandolin, and Eric Uglum's guitar work is itself almost worth the price of admission. Marshall Andrews keeps everyone rock-solidly on the beat with his interesting bass lines and Janet Beazley sparkles on the banjo. "Crazy Pat" Conway's piercing tenor vocal on "Somebody Loves You Darling" makes for one of the album's many highlights.
"Back to the Pasture" spotlights the resonator guitar's storied past and paints a vivid portrait of its future. And in the multi-talented hands of Ivan Rosenberg, that future looks bright indeed.
Dave Higgs
Bluegrass Breakdown
Nashville Public Radio
Nashville, TN
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