Dan Berggren is unlikely to be famous for his music. And while
\non some level it’s a shame, I, for one, am kind of glad — because
\nfame would tarnish the sparkle of the Adirondacks’ wandering
\nfolkie. He has wandered as far as Malawi and Bulgaria, but his
\nsongs are straight out of the heartbeat and history of Upper New
\nYork. DV regulars might remember his
\nRooted In The Mountains<\/i> as being one of my top ten
\nrecordings for 2001; his latest release,
\nOne With The Water<\/i>, is his first new work since then.<\/p>\n
\nWater<\/i> is a collection of new and old songs from several past
\ncassette and CD releases, as well as seven new songs, loosely woven
\naround the theme of water; water that runs around us, runs through
\nour veins, and unites us all on some level. Theme albums are
\ndifficult to pull off, but this one delivers; Berggren’s skill and
\nsimplicity shines.<\/p>\n
Production is excellent, stripped-down and bare bones; if you’re
\nlooking for funky effects or engineering sleight-of-hand, look
\nelsewhere. Despite the varying times these songs were recorded
\n(from 1979 to the present day) the sound is pleasingly uniform.
\nBerggren’s skill as a musician is plain; he plays with skill and
\npassion.<\/p>\n
What stands out is the songwriting. Berggren tells stories,
\nsometimes with spoken interludes between the songs; his wordplay
\nand singing is rich and elegant, and his voice is low, warm, and
\ncomfortable, like an old flannel shirt. Highlights include “Be
\nStill,” the gentle “Lullaby,” “Looking For Answers” and the
\nreflective “Salt Water Poet.” This isn’t a CD to listen to if
\nyou’re looking for power and majesty, but it’s a comfortable,
\ncompetent, wonderful reflection of the folk music tradition.<\/p>\n
You, too, should be
\nOne With The Water<\/i> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6819],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37553","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dan-berggren","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37553"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37553"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}