Frontier Fracas: No Country For Old Men

“The West is the best.” – Jim Morrison

Or not.

What might you get when you cross a novel penned by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Cormac McCarthy (The Road, All the Pretty Horses) with the vision of directorial duo the Coen Brothers (“Blood Simple” and “Fargo”)?

That’s the big question knowing audiences are asking of the new film “No Country for Old Men,” featuring an all-star cast and a narrative so spare it makes Ernest Hemingway look like Henry James on uppers. As a storyteller, McCarthy is well-known for his taut dialogue, explosive violence, lack of descriptive details or punctuational niceties, and tight-lipped male western characters – quintessential frontier types cut in the mythical tradition of Frederick Jackson Turner.

The Coen Brothers wisely decide not to mess with this formula. In fact, it plays right into many of their strengths.

1980 is the year. The Tejano borderlands is the place. Three stories unfold together in the dusty southwestern desert. An escaped hit man named Anton Chighur (the sinisterly monotone Javier Barden) goes on a killing spree armed only with a high pressure cattle-killing device– a lethal weapon in the capable hands of this deadly dude. Meanwhile, a rifle-toting working class welder/hunter named Llewelyn Moss (a convincing Josh Brolin) stumbles across a remote drug deal gone awry, and walks away from three truckloads of dead Mexicans – “a colossal goat fuck in the middle of the desert” - with a briefcase full of $2 million in one hundred dollar bills. A horse-riding sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) winds up investigating the crime scene with an eye towards solving the mystery, continually playing catch up as the movie unfolds.

McCarthy (and the Coens) weave together these three stories – with terrifying results.

“I think were looking at more than one fracas,” observes the deputy to the sheriff. “Its a mess, aint it?”

If it aint,” the sheriff responds, “Itll do until the mess gets here.”

Indeed.

Like most of McCarthy’s stories, “No Country For Old Men” explores the darkness and depravity of the human soul, and the ease with which the fragility of human relationships crumbles in the face of unexpected but not uncontrollable circumstances. Fate and choice play a role here, too, as the two main characters engage in an intricate game of cat and mouse that takes them from the isolated sands of a trailer park into the hotel of a nearby frontier town.

“I gotta bad feeling, Llewelyn,” Moss’ wife worriedly exclaims as he puts her on a bus to their relatives.

Well I gotta good one so I guess that evens out.”

The Coen Brothers make the most of McCarthy’s penchant for lean (borderline non-existent) dialogue – the movie is marked by painfully long pauses in the verbal action, filled only by the sounds of drawers opening, vehicles moving, doors closing, and always, the ambient noise of the awesome desert. There is no musical score in this film to speak of – a calculated gamble made by the directors to underscore the stark intensity of the story.

And there is humor here, too – at odd moments, when you don’t expect it.

“If I dont come back,” Moss says to his wife, “Tell my mother I love her.

Your mothers dead, Llewelyn.

Well then Ill tell her myself.”

The Coen brothers’ film arrives at an oddly appropriate time. We live at a historical moment where vague clichés – “freedom,” “democracy,” “human rights,” “free market” –run point for what is, in reality, an incredibly violent world. “No Country for Old Men” travels directly into that vague and nebulous territory – a place where choices have consequences, a society where trivial dialogue between strangers masks latent violence that erupts with sudden fury.

“The West is a messy place,” historian Sarah Deutsch once wrote. Indeed, never more so than in this oddly terrifying tale of human nature seemingly beyond redemption.

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Wagtail’s “One Clear Moment”: Two Albums in One

For upcoming shows, and to listen, check out Wagtail’ s web site.

According to percussionist Carter Stowell, it was fellow band member Kristina Stykos who coined the name “Wagtail” as a moniker for one of central Vermont’s newest and most engaging acoustic foursomes. I swear there must be something magical in the drinking water out greater Montpelier way. Every time I turn around, my ears pick up the sound of something sonically good and wholesome floating across the breeze from the direction of the state capital.

So who is “Wagtail”? Longtime listeners within the central Vermont music scene probably know Stykos and Stowell (formerly with the band “Ekis”), may be familiar singer/instrumentalist George White, and are no doubt well-versed in the work of the prolific singer/fiddler Susannah Blachly. Put ‘em all together, and you’ve got “Wagtail” – a foursome that is really two bands ((at least) in one.

Let me explain.

The “wag” portion of the band’s name refers to the toe-tapping spontaneity that emanates from roughly one half of the tunes – all instrumentals - on “One Clear Moment,” the band’s first (and hopefully not last) CD. The “wag” formula is simple and true – turn talented fiddler Susannah Blachly loose, and hang on for the ride and the varied change-ups, as attested to by the original medley “Crossing the Causeway/Icehouse” and the traditional “Martin Wynne/Carol Roe/Connaughtman’s.”

Interspersed among the instrumentals are vocally-driven numbers, mostly stories – the “tail,” or “tales,” as it were.

Neat, huh? “Wagtail.”

One part instrumentality, the other part vocal storytelling.

Now I know what you are thinking. Mixing instrumental and singer/songwriter genres on one album is a dicey prospect, especially with so many samples of each tune in the mix.

The good news: whoever arranged the line-up on “One Clear Moment” knew exactly what they were doing. Timing is everything on an album like this.

To their credit, the band pulls us right in with the opening track - the seductive and sensual “When the Sun Goes Down”:

Here the ancient willow sigh/
As the clouds spin across the sky/
Watch the day’s last embers die/
And I’ll meet you when the sun goes down…

Sign me up.

From there, they move into the rollicking “Causeway,” followed by a hypnotically percussive Stykos number called “River Go By,” driven by the guitar and Stowell’s djembe and shaker playing, and then swing into the classic tune “House Carpenter,” ably fronted by chanteuse Blachly’s fiddle playing.

The fifth tune also happens to be the title track – “One Clear Moment” – and for my money, it is the weakest song on the record. The sentiment is familiar, and the tune is catchy enough to rub smooth some of the rough lyrical “tell, don’t show” edges and mixed metaphors – “traffic is slow and its making me stressed/throw out the anchor ‘cause I want to slow down” – just what is going on here?

But the rest of the CD is first rate. A generous fourteen tunes round out the project, and my favorite is the last one, a Blachly-crafted tune called “Honey Man.” The song is built on the traditional number “Sandy Boys,” but ramped up with incandescent and playful lyrics reminiscent of the best of old timey meets Americana music – a sort of female version of “Shady Grove,” in which a lover sings joyfully of her found love – Johnny O, in this case. Be sure to listen all the way through, so you don’t miss the sweetness of this final tune.

And don’t miss this new CD from “Wagtail” – may there be many more to come from this talented foursome.

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Not Pop Music, But “Mom and Pop” Music:
Lewis Franco’s “Swinging in Daddyland”

Former Northern Power employee-turned-singer/songwriter Lewis Franco is one of Vermont’s best-kept musical secrets. An understated and good-natured family man residing in the greater Montpelier area, Franco is one of the Green Mountains’ most gifted musicians, a performer who is able to wrap well-crafted lyrics around catchy musical melodies, and possesses the guitar chops and musical sensibility to match.

Franco’s new project – performed with an ensemble cleverly called the “Missing Cats,” and tinged with a scat-meet-gypsy swing sound – may be his best yet. Franco is always good at pushing the envelope – lyrically, musically, instrumentally – and he really goes to town on this new project. “Swinging in Daddyland” is toe-tapping infectious acoustic music at its best – equal parts Django Reinhart on the gypsy end, and, on the other, a Dan Zanes-ian Americana sensibility with a big-hearted sense of humor that grins, winks and nudges without being trite, sentimental or cheesy.

Pulling off a “concept” album – “Swing” meets “Gypsy” meets “Americana” - can be real hard to do. But Franco courageously commits up front. And the best part of Franco’s songs, for me, is the fact that they always have a little musical and/or lyrical twist to them, including the use of odd instruments (a washing machine, for example, in his new project), or a zany concept he manages to pull off with a wink and a grin (Long-time Franco listeners know “Who Put the Hyper in Your Diaper?” from his first CD), as well as wonderful contributions from a whole community of friends and neighbors, from his multi-talented musical neighbor Colin McCaffrey to his daughter and son Louisa and Joseph.

The new CD comes out, well, swinging, with the title track, and then quickly jumps into a wonderful tune called “Homegrown” about the creature comforts of living in the “Householder” stage – a rhythmically wonderful ode to “place” and all that it entails, the homestead garden, the day-to-day rhythm of the seasons, the small pleasures of family. Imagine the lyrics below, performed against a groovy and rhythmic acoustic beat:

Good stuff growin’ in the garden
Jumpin’ up out of the dirt
Cook it up right for supper tonight
The neighbors will be bringin’ desert

We don’t need television
We don’t need a video game
We have our fun together
It isn’t too exciting but I love it just the same

Indeed.

And this song highlights another wonderful aspect to Franco’s tunes – I feel like he is singing about me and everyone I know who has ever been a parent with children and a family.

My two kids’ current favorite on the CD is a wonderful tune called “Have You Looked?” (track 3), a father/daughter duet about finding lost stuff – a necklace, Mommy (she’s in the garden), a pillow, and…well, I won’t spoil the ending for you, but let me just say that, as a father, I almost broke down the first time I heard the end of the song – laughing and crying all at once. Brilliantly orchestrated, and so simple.

Personally, I am drawn to track 7 – “Annabelle” – an acoustic rock and roll number about a father and daughter spending a day out, and their encounters with a band playing dance music. It is a spontaneous, fun, catchy and upbeat tune about seizing the moment, wrapped up (very subtly) with a reminder that kids do grow up (Never mind track 6, “Rude Awakening” – a bluesy number urging adults in love to think thrice before they plunge into the baby thing) and, Franco reminds us that we parents need to practice “carpe diem” behavior at every opportunity.

And I haven’t even begun to mention the other ten tunes (yes, there are an ambitious 15 songs on this project).

Suffice to say, Lewis Franco has set a very high bar for Green Mountain singer/songwriters with his new and wondrous CD. Don’t miss him, performing with “the Missing Cats,” at some of Vermont’s best venues this next month!

And keep it swinging.

Find out more at www.lewisfranco.com.

Upcoming Performances include:

Friday, November 16th, 2007
Historic Town Hall Theatre; Woodstock VT; 7:30 pm
Price: $15 adults, $10 kids (under 18)

Saturday, November 17th, 2007
United Methodist Church of Middlebury; 7:30 pm
Price: $15 adults, $10 kids (under 18)

Saturday, December 1st, 2007
The Old Meeting House; East Montpelier; 7:30 pm
Price: $15 adults, $10 kids (under 18)

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