The band: Bright Little Field
The record: Treatment Bound – A Ukulele Tribute To The Replacements
The article: by Tommy Womack
On it’s face, the whole blessed notion of a ukulele-based tribute to The Replacements is beyond egregious. Maybe it would be funny for a song or two if you’re stoned, but beyond that? Sorry, put Wilco back on man. Thing is, though, there are a lot of different types of ukulele that make lots of different sounds, Paul Westerberg’s are unassailable, and Bright Little Field’s Treatment Bound is the album of the year. For me it is, anyway. Listening to it makes me feel good. It makes me want to hear songs over and over in a day and age when sometimes I find myself listening to records and never having that feeling.
And it’s not a tribute album, no matter what they say. Those kinds of records are a host of different artists and the musical landscape zigs and zags from cut to cut, with some attempts listenable and others not. This is one band consistently, playing the music of one artist, and has more in kind with “Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson” or Ella Fitzgerald's “Cole Porter Songbook.” It doesn't do tribute to the Replacements (although the arrangements are dead-on), it casts their music, and Westerberg’s songs, in an entirely new light. An aspect of Westerberg’s songwriting was his use of truly insane open tunings that allowed him to make dense chordal clusters and take the guitar melodies to inventive places. I can listen to Bright Little Field’s versions of “Little Mascara” and “I’ll Be You” and hear the melodic and chordal complexity in a way the Replacements’ sturm and drang made it more difficult to appreciate sometimes.
Bright Little Field is Tom Littlefield (of the great Nashville ‘80s band The Questionnaires), and Jonathan Bright (who played in a fab late ‘80s/early ‘90s Nashville band called Swing), two long-time bright spots on the Nashville rock and pop scene. In the interest of making a self-imposed deadline and give this record some press in short order, I’ll just let Jonathan say how the record came together...
“I believe it started when I ran into Tom (after many years) at a party, and he mentioned that he was playing a lot of uke at the time. I had just finished the Bright/O'brien thing, on which I played bunches of uke, so we decided to get together for a jam and played a few gigs with Bright/OBrien. Somewhere in there we recorded a uke-centric tune that Tom and Kim Richey wrote, and that went smoothly. Being a longtime fan of tom's work, and considering I have a small studio, I thought it prudent to suggest he and I record some tunes for kicks. the replacements was the first thing I thought of, we played around a little with "I Will Dare," and settled on the concept of an "all uke" record. I say concept, because there really wasn't much of a plan."
“There are 'real drums' on a few songs. That kit consisted of kick, snare with a towel on top/or a small box with shakers inside, rack tom, and cymbals. The rest of the songs used various odds and ends, pots, pans, washtub, shakers, woodblocks, rubber chicken, leg slapping, claps, snaps, etc."
“Actually, Tom did a bit more than sing lead and play uke. He sang backgrounds, played the lovely lead in “Swingin' Party,” and was an integral part in the arranging, mixing, mastering, etc. That dude has some top notch ears, definitely the executive producer in the truest sense."
“The basic process was this: 1) Pick a tune. 2) Tom lays down a scratch vocal and uke for a map. 3) Tom does his main uke and lead vocal. 4) Tom leaves, and I start piling my stuff on. 5) Tom returns, we sift through the stuff I have piled on. 6) Tom adds a few things, I edit a few things. 7) We agree that it is good. 8) Repeat."
“We used soprano, tenor, and baritone ukes. The "bass" was done using a baritone uke, and drastically de-tuning it. This proved to be the most difficult thing to record, crazy overtones. I have since found out that they make a bass uke, that would have been nice to know at the time.”
What can I add to Jonathan’s comments but that this is one of the most darn tuneful records of the year, it’s on iTunes, Amazon, hard copies are excellent stocking stuffers and they’ve left the light on for you at brightlittlefield.com. The balls of holly are in your court now. Run with it. If you will dare, I will dare.
Love,
Tommy
