City of Refuge

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City of Refuge
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  1. Audio CD: 1 item: Release Date 2011-01-11
  2. Publisher: Rounder
  3. Artist: Abigail Washburn
  4. Sales Rank in Music: #3728

Product Review

In her relatively short musical career, Abigail Washburn has covered a lot of ground; both physically and metaphorically. Bouncing between China and Appalachia has informed much of her musical output and influenced a body of work that goes far beyond the usual claw hammer banjo repertoire. Her Rounder debut, City of Refuge is a sublime marriage of old-time and indie-pop. On the album Washburn pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody's ever heard before. The album features My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel, The Decemberists' Chris Funk, Turtle Island Quartet's Jeremy Kittell, atmospheric jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, veteran Nashville studio percussionist Kenny Malone, Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor and Morgan Jahnig, Wu Fei, master of the guzheng, and the Mongolian stringband Hanggai, who managed to contribute ambient throat-singing from halfway around the world. The album was produced by Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Tift Merritt, Mudhoney) and features the talents of multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, Kai Welch (Tommy and the Whale). City of Refuge offers an expansive palette of supple and modern textures resulting in a remarkably harmonious piece of art.
Title Tracks for City of Refuge

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Music Without Boundaries - A Singular, Beautiful, Album, January 27, 2011
James N. Perlman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City of Refuge (Audio CD)
Abigail Washburn's City Of Refuge contains many moments of sheer, breathtaking, beauty. It is always musically accessible yet, at the same time, musically challenging. Abby does something quit rare here. And it is something very few composers can pull off successfully. She mixes many, and varied, styles, sounds and instruments into her compositions. Working backwards, I can see how she pulled this off. But she was working forward when she co-wrote these songs with Kai Welch and there really is little musical precedence for some of the mixtures she conjures on this album. This is musical inventiveness of a very high order. It may be what makes Abby special and distinct.

Before going any further, some housekeeping is in order; a disclosure: I have been a friend of Abby's family for a very, very, long time. I knew her grandfather (he was an important teacher in my life), know her grandmother, her mother and her uncle (I know her father as well but for only 35 years...Read more


10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!, January 25, 2011
Rushmore (CHICAGO, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City of Refuge (Audio CD)
I first heard Abigail Washburn on Prairie Home Companion a couple of weeks ago, when Sara Watkins hosted. AW's voice is similar to SW's, at least it sounded so on the radio. The CD is a revelation, incredibly beautiful and quietly soothing music. Most of it is not typical of what I consider bluegrass. The banjo can be a pretty evocative instrument when played slowly and meditatively. This CD will be on heavy rotation in my car - it is beautiful and moody and warm. Every once in a while I come across someone I've never heard of before, who expands my musical horizons a little bit more, like a gift. Thanks, Abigail Washburn, for the gift.


7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Abigail Washburn makes me like blue grass music again., January 16, 2011
Robert G Yokoyama (Mililani, Hawaii) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City of Refuge (Audio CD)
Abigail Washburn is the new star of blue grass music. Her voice is very soothing. She plays the banjo better than anyone I have heard in a long time. The title track "City Of Refuge" is a song about escaping to a city of refuge. Abigail is accompanied on the keyboard and vocals by a musician named Kai Welch. "Chains" is an upbeat song about the things that hold people back. This song features good percussion playing by Kenny Malone. The fiddle playing by Rob Hecht is excellent too. The subtle reflective tone of the track "Bring Me My Queen" puts my mind at ease. Abby's voice reflects a person who is warm and wise here. Jared Engel provides a deep lovely tone on his bass instrument. All the musicians in her band are very talented.

Abigail duets with Kai Welch on the song "Ballad Of Treason". This song is about the price people pay for freedom. She hits the high notes effortlessly on this tune. I like it very much. Burn Thur is another favorite tune of mine on this...Read more

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