SUPERSTRING THEORY - New CD from Andy Statman Coming October 22!

Featuring Tim O’Brien & Michael Cleveland

2012 NEA National Heritage Fellow and Grammy nominee Andy Statman has become a near-legendary figure in avant-garde bluegrass and string music.

From the sublime to the surreal, his ever-changing repertoire is a challenge and a delight to his audience and his fellow musicians. On Superstring Theory, out October 22, Statman further explores the subterranean caverns of American roots music, tapping deeper into the sources that have energized his playing for nearly 50 years.

Andy chose two renowned bluegrass/roots players to augment his trio in order to continue the “unending experiment.” He composed new material, written with these players in mind (in addition to two covers, an African American folk song and a rockabilly tune). Guitarist/singer Tim O’Brien and fiddler Michael Cleveland bring to the sessions virtuosity, improvisational creativity and spirit. Veteran trio members Jim Whitney (bass) and Larry Eagle (drums, percussion) put down the bricks and floorboards and push the musical conversation to further heights.

“Little Addy” alludes to what one of Andy’s granddaughters calls her pacifier (‘Addy! Addy!’). The melody is an unlikely but organic melding of funk, disco and bluegrass.

“For Barbara” shows the lyrical side of Andy’s music, and is dedicated to his wife. A favorite request at the Trio’s recent gigs, it evokes images of America’s past.

“Green, Green Rocky Road,” featuring Tim O’Brien’s vocal, is an old African American children’s song Andy originally heard as a kid live on the radio in the early ‘60’s. “Hearing Dave Van Ronk sing it so hypnotically and powerfully, it has always stuck with me,” said Statman. The present arrangement was born of spontaneous combustion when all the players got together in one room in the studio.

“Surfin’ Slivovitz” –Bill Monroe meets the Ventures.

“Waltz for Ari” is the latest example of the dark, moody compositions for which Andy has been noted ever since “Flatbush Waltz.”

“Pale Ale Hop” is another genre-bending set-up for high flights of improvisation.

“Brooklyn*London *Rome”—Statman describes this as a “Popeye Song,” by which he means that it might have been used by the Fleischer brothers in their animated cartoons. Although only a trace of Statman’s clarinet artistry insinuates itself into the song list here, many of Statman’s previous recordings have featured the clarinet in the contexts of klezmer, jazz, Hasidic and Greek-Albanian music.