New Zealand fiddle phenom George Jackson has a new album coming soon, Center of the Universe, with a group he assembled for this purpose called Local Trio.
But not local to Jackson’s home in New Zealand. Now living in Nashville, George tapped banjo player Frank Evans and bassist Eli Broxham as his Trio, with special guest Gus Tritsch appearing on electric guitar.
The full album won’t hit until February 13, but we have a debut single today. It’s an old favorite, Cumberland Gap, a bluegrass standard, but played here in a more sedate old time style. George and Trio perfectly capture the hypnotic groove this tune possesses, but with an overlaid exercise in meter, as he describes it.
“This is a bow rhythm experiment overlaying a five beat bow rhythm across the melody of Eskar Hutchins’ Cumberland Gap. Eli plays every fifth beat on the bass, which lines up with the emphasis of my bowing pattern, while Frank keeps the melody straight. Each time the down bow collides with the first beat of an A or B section Gus marks the down beat with the electric guitar, the whole cycle takes five times through the tune for the down bow and A part down beat to hit, creating one big poly-rhythmic cycle. Nerdsville, basically.”
It makes for a powerful effect, if you’re a rhythm nerd, that is. Everyone else can just enjoy the tune.
Cumberland Gap from George Jackson is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Pre-orders for the full Center of the Universe album, on vinyl, CD, or for download, are enabled now as well.
