Cameron Knowler and Eli Winter – Anticipation
American Dreams Records – 12 March 2021
In reading about the groundwork for ‘Anticipation’, you are left with the distinct impression, before even pressing play, that this is an unlikely desert/city pairing and that it is, as Cameron Knowler‘s puts it, an album that “seemed insurmountable conceptually.” Everyone must have been surprised at the results.
Eli Winter hails from Chicago, a city that invites creative collaboration through its rich and diverse cross-pollination of musicians. That city has given us numerous wins, in the context of this music, Land of Plenty featuring fellow Chicago-based guitarists Ryley Walker and Bill Mackay springs to mind – not that you’d call that pairing unlikely. While his musical influences align to the likes of Jack Rose, Michael Chapman and Daniel Bachman, Winter’s path has been far from predictable, especially in the short space between his 2019 debut and his 2020 follow-up ‘Unbecoming’. Folk Radio’s Glenn Kimpton called it a huge leap forward with Winter delivering a ‘musically rich and challenging’ album.
While Knowler may have arrived from a different path, he’s far from obvious and enjoys resisting the “chokehold of normativism”. A Houstonian by way of Yuma, Arizona, he came to bluegrass guitar through an obsession with Norman Blake. His releases hint at curiosity and a desire to explore and push boundaries…check his Five Cowboy Meditations for Guitar and banjo album Honey off a Rock. He also has a degree in jazz guitar performance and there are some jazz-like conversations that surface on this album, none maybe more so than ‘Sippin’ Amaretto’ where Knowler and Winter indulge in playful dissonance and flow – there’s certainly nothing typical about these two.
Album-opener Strawberry Milk, eases us in nicely, a sweet first take on which their seemingly disparate approaches find a meeting of minds as they did when touring together near the Tex-Mex border in late 2018. There are delicate harmonic hints that seem drawn from that desert western vista, stretched notes and long shadows, before an increasing tempo heralds the nearing end. The parched western-inflected blues ‘And So I Did’ forms the perfect companion piece, conjuring again the stark beauty of Trans-Pecos land that this duo seems to have found a common ground upon.
Cumberland Application is the only traditional track, on which they exercise restraint for a gentle mediation on the folk tune ‘Cumberland Gap’, the slowed pace allowing the listener a greater appreciation of the intricacies of their playing.
Throughout ‘Anticipation’ there is a natural flow and energy between Knowler and Winter, at times sounding like one, so much so that you give up trying to detect changeovers and responses and instead surrender to the music – be in the moment with them.
There’s no better time to surrender than with Parapraxis of a Dragonfly, a centrepiece of this album around which all else seems to rotate. It’s a beautiful composition and a great workout on which they weave and dance before introducing changes and playfully leading one another to the edge of the precipice, teetering on the brink. Throughout the album, there are similar displays of clarity and all-out freeform flight, that ability to drift and explore – be in the moment – and to then regather effortlessly is what makes ‘Anticipation‘ so daring and enjoyable.
Michael Chapman’s Caddo Lake is afforded a gorgeous rendition with an organic and intuitive counter-melody. Stretched to over seven minutes it allows time for some more tangled flights before regaining the wind and gracefully alighting upon the ground to a gentle close.
Mark Fosson is given a lovely tribute with A White Rose for Mark – Winter and Knowler played his last concert before his death in 2018. Dream-like and composed in journey-like sections, it pleasantly sets the mind adrift.
Before you know it, the album closer snaps you back as we hear voices for the first time – a live track; Winter introduces Tut Taylor’s Southern Filibuster which featured on his 1972 album Friar Tut alongside Norman Blake. Considering Knowler’s obsession for Blake, this is, to my ears, the closest they come to old-time or bluegrass music…yet this still turns into an abstract conversation.
At one of Knowler’s hometown gigs, released on cassette, he announces to the audience that he’s a recovering bluegrass musician… “I’m not exactly old-time and I’m not bluegrass…I’m figuring it out, as they say”. Winter and Knowler do plenty of figuring out on ‘Anticipation’ leading each other on a journey where there are no rules, relishing the freedom.
‘Anticipation’ is an extraordinary delight. A playful flight, that twists and flows as the duo throw the rulebook out the window, just existing in the moment. The results demand they regroup and do it all again soon.
Order via Bancamp: https://cameronknowlereliwinter.bandcamp.com/
Photo Credit: Mark Lewis
Album Artwork: Steve Perlin