Washington City Paper

August 18, 2006

This Was Made for You and Me

By Pamela Murray Winters

As posthumous careers go, Woody Guthrieπs had a solid oneãmuch like Ronald Reaganπs, only without as many airports. The passionate yet pragmatic songwriterπs continued success is due greatly to his daughter Nora, who has been doling out the rights to his unreleased verses to musicians she deems worthy of propagating her fatherπs legacy. Though 1998πs Mermaid Avenue allowed Billy Bragg and Wilco to treat Guthrieπs work as that of an American-lefty troubadour, Wonder Wheel goes back to Guthrieπs Jewish roots, setting his words to tunes by members of the New York≠based Klezmatics in their first English-language disc. Which doesnπt explain why Irish New Yorker Susan McKeown does so many of the vocalsãbut with a plangent alto like hers, who needs an explanation? ≥Mermaidπs Avenue,≤ a sort of Caribbean/campfire-folk fusion composed by Frank London, has its quirky touches, and the somewhat unctuous-voiced Lorin Sklamberg wisely resists overselling lyrics that describe the πhood as a place where ≥the smokefish meets the pretzel≤ and ≥the borscht sounds like the sea.≤ But much of the album is as dark as Guthrieπs own lengthy death from Huntingtonπs disease. ≥Come When I Call You,≤ a variant on the counting song ≥Go Where I Send Thee,≤ offers ≥Ten for the atom bomb loose again≤ and ≥Nine for the crippled and blind,≤ on down to ≥Oneπs for the pretty little baby thatπs born...and gone away≤ãpossibly a reference to the death of Guthrieπs young daughter Cathy in 1946, three years prior to its composition. Matt Darriauπs minor-key, brooding setting of ≥Pass Away≤ reinforces the fatalism of its lyrics. There are brighter spots, including ≥Headdy Down,≤ a lovely Yiddish-tinged lullaby with kickass electric guitar from Boo Reiners. Folks who know Guthrie only from ≥This Land Is Your Land≤ or because of Wilco might well start with the uncompromisingly folky ≥Gonna Get Through This World.≤ Not only because of its irresistible dai-dai-dai singalong chorus, but because of its interweaving of McKeownπs Dublin-accented voice, Reinersπ banjo, Adam Widoffπs tabla, a raft of klezmer horns, and composer Lisa Gutkinπs melancholy violin, itπs the very definition of world music. Itπs stirringly idealisticãbut also clear-eyed: ≥Iπm gonna get through this world the best I can,≤ Guthrie wrote in 1945ãbut then added, perhaps to ward off the dybbuk at the door: ≥If I can.≤