FOOLED YOU! Watch it here: Daniel Bachman - Pig Iron (on Vimeo)
Daniel Bachman sits in the green room and cracks a beer before his performance. With no setup required, no patch cables to unwind or pedals to configure, no amp to sound check, he’s: ( ∙_∙) ( ∙_∙)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) str8 chilling. Mind on nothing in particular. Maybe smoking fewer cigs. Or smoking a few more. Maybe thinking about his dad. Or Tom Petty. Sandy Bull. The ice cream man that used to drive around his neighborhood. The fly in the room. What goes into light beer. I think it’s all rice or something. I dunno. The glut of miserable Mumford-core “folk” “rock” terror that floods airwaves and festival bills couldn’t be farther from his reality. He purveys the good shit: that complex fingerstyle expression, like three or four brains addressing the guitar at once, that American Primitive revival — maybe don’t call it a revival, since someone’s been doing it in some form or another this whole time. Yeah. He gets up from the rocker (note: this “green room” is the porch of the home adjacent to a church) and heads in for the thing.
Like best bud and frequent touring/recording partner Ryley Walker, Bachman’s prodigious chops, discerning chordal sensibilities, and knack for memorable melodies seem impossibly developed for his age (24). But there they are, and there they will continue to be — and then some — for as long as he holds a guitar. Bachman’s right hand is a marvel to behold: intricate arpeggio patterns plucked with confidence by pointer, middle, and ring, as thumb maintains a steady bass pulse spanning multiple strings. If you’re like me, you watch the video of Bachman performing “Pig Iron” (link above) and think that the ecclesiastic backdrop pales in comparison to the holy notes crafted by those hands, spanning a dynamic harmonic range encompassing everything from delta blues to country twang, English “jazzy” folk a la Pentangle to the wholesome backporch chug of Fahey’s poor boy a long way from home.
Bachman drops a new album, entitled Orange Co. Serenade via Bathetic Records on July 15.
• Daniel Bachman: http://danielbachman.com
• Bathetic Records: http://batheticrecords.com
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