MP3 Cliff and Julia Landis - The Barest Touch
Driving bass, dreamy guitar and pedal steel make this bluegrass-inflected alt-country debut rock. Some of the most inventive trad oriented hard country lyrics you are likely to hear, from two great songwriters and Grammy winning arranger, Keith Little.
5 MP3 Songs in this album (18:35) !
Related styles: Country: Alt-Country, Folk: Appalachian Folk, Featuring Guitar
People who are interested in Alison Krauss Dolly Parton Emmylou Harris should consider this download.
Details:
Cliff Landis grew up in rural Ohio and from an early age began singing four part a capella gospel songs in the church, and at home, in a family that loved music. He began playing guitar in high school, and first engaged a lifelong passion for bluegrass and old time American music while in college, attending many of the great festivals of this music in the southeastern U.S., meeting and learning from many great players.
A lover of traditional instrumental music, he also plays fiddle and old time banjo and has played dances in Ohio, Chicago, California and Southeastern Alaska for decades. Cliff maintains a keen interest in all kinds of early country music as well as swing and blues, and has performed with various traditional artists throughout the US. Cliff and Julia formed a musical team based on a mutual love of the harmony singing of early county bands such as the Carter Family, the Louvin Brothers, and Bill Monroe, among many others.
Julia Landis began playing music still in high school. She got her first musical training as a vocalist in rock and roll band and played rhythm guitar as well. She teamed up with Cliff in 1998, originally playing back up guitar for fiddle tunes and soon joined him in singing harmony on traditional brothers duets, learning her current singing style from the Louvin, Delmore and Monroe Brothers. Her primary influences in bluegrass and country music Flatt and Scruggs, The Stanley Brothers, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris. Through Cliff, she has also been inspired by old time music and often draws upon the modal sounds of that style in her own composition.
In 2005 Julia began writing her own songs which reflect her love of the hard country music of the 1950s and traditional bluegrass music. The Barest Touch— Cliff and Julia’s first CD (2009 release Kodiak Runner/BMI) —an EP of five original songs, was produced by Grammy winning artist Keith Little, who currently plays in both David Grisman’s Bluegrass Experience and Peter Rowan’s Bluegrass band. The album showcases the vocal and songwriting talents of both Cliff and Julia Landis, and features Keith Little on backup vocals, mandolin and guitar; it also features the superb pedal steel guitar playing of John Mitguard, Nashville artist Markie Sanders on upright bass and Alaska favorite Eric Holle on both mandolin and banjo.