Pharis & Jason Romero – Tell ‘Em You Were Gold

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A few weeks back, I read an article about Sharon Van Etten, the headline of which termed her ‘an institution.’ It got me thinking about how these unspoken transitions occur, from positions of recognition for achievements or standards to those of elevated reverence whereby a person, group of people or an organization could henceforth be considered thus. As I see it, contributory factors in attaining that station would include consistency over time, influence within their realm, comparable public and critical acclaim, and widespread peer respect. In which case, as a highly regarded fixture of the Canadian folk scene for a dozen years now, Pharis & Jason Romero certainly qualify as an institution. (There’s also an additional cottage industry aspect to the Romeros’ entitlement to such a standing. Aside from creating music, they’re enablers for others to do so by handcrafting gorgeous instruments at their home-based business, J. Romero Banjos.) And, as if in a circumstantial cementing of this status, Pharis and Jason have signed to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings – a hallowed nonprofit arm of the Smithsonian Institution – to release their lovely new album, Tell ‘Em You Were Gold.

Amazingly, despite this being their seventh album as a duo, it’s both their first working with and released by a record label, and – considering Jason’s international renown as a master banjo luthier – their first collection clearly focused on his instrument of choice. On Tell ‘Em You Were Gold, Jason sings and plays seven different banjos, all of which he built: presented alphabetically, they’re named The Beast, Bella, Big Blue, Birdie, Clara, Gourdo, Mother, and Papillon. Pharis also sings and plays a gourd banjo-guitar constructed by Jason, her partner in life and art.

The album’s first single, Souvenir, launches this collection. The listener is immediately bathed in the warm glow of the now-classic Romero sound – rustic, laidback – with Jason’s banjo dancing lightly over gentle, instinctive harmonies. It’s an absolute delight, as is everything that follows on this generous 16-song, 50-minute offering. (To be released in January – seven months behind the CD and download – the vinyl edition will feature an additional six tracks, making the wax format of Tell ‘Em You Were Gold a bona fide double album and hopefully more than making up for the protracted production delay.)

Learned, practised, and recorded live in their converted barn home studio in a mere six days, the album is split evenly between eight songs – i.e. with vocal – and eight instrumentals. It’s a perfectly balanced affair, beautifully showcasing the featured instrument, their breezy vocals, and an unassuming, organic approach to performance and recording in terms of the thrill of capturing the moment. It’s such an intimate, casual-sounding collection of charming folk tunes that it’s easy to picture oneself cosied up in that barn with them, admiringly appreciating these masters of their arena at work and play.

Musicians of such repute will always attract and collaborate with accordant talent, and the supporting players on Tell ‘Em You Were Gold are no exception. Two fiddlers join the Romeros here, namely Grace Forrest and the Juno-winning Trent Freeman (The Fretless / Speaker Face), who romps spiritedly all over the old-timey-flavoured Sour Queen. The former is a new name to me, but – as exhibited by her fabulous contributions to the instrumentals Lady on the Green, Going to Town, and album closer Old Bill’s Tune – evidently one hell of a player. Regular Romeros contributor Marc Jenkins adds washes of pedal steel, most notably as the backdrop to The Dose (inspired not by COVID-19 vaccines but a fishing fly called a Black Dose), while another previous collaborator, Patrick Metzger, plays bass. Finally, John Reischman, architect of a clutch of glorious bluegrass-folk albums, both solo and with his band the Jaybirds, chips in as one of the world’s finest mandolinists. It’s quite the line-up.

Although in the opening of this review, I justifiably declared Pharis and Jason an institution, in respect of their career thus far – spanning just twelve years, remember – it would be inaccurate to term them ‘veterans’ just yet. However, in that relatively short time, they’ve scooped three Juno Awards (for Traditional Roots Album in 2016, 2019, and 2021), as well as seven Canadian Folk Music Awards, and earned increasing international acclaim with each successive album release. It seems odds-on that Tell ‘Em You Were Gold will extend this highly successful streak, further reinforcing their position within the upper echelons of the global folk music community.

Tell ‘Em You Were Gold is released on CD and digital download on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings on June 17^th. The expanded vinyl LP edition will follow in January 2023. Pre-Order here: https://orcd.co/pharis-jason-romero

WEBSITE:  http://www.pharisandjason.com/

BANDCAMP: https://pharisjasonromero.bandcamp.com/music

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pharisandjason/