Beauty in the Dirt (CD)

Beauty in the Dirt is a collection of songs written or arranged by Cory Seznec over the past couple of years and recorded with the help of stellar musicians from Paris, Edinburgh, and New Orleans. His first solo album after several years of recording and touring with among others Groanbox and Seznec Bros, Cory has stuck to his creative guns, mixing American folk styles with African grooves, and pop cadences. A keen ear will hear styles constantly cross-pollinating. The entire album is interwoven with the Malian and Congolese guitar influenced Southern Bound instrumentals featuring deep, characterful percussion from Cory's musical partner in Groanbox, Michael Ward-Bergeman. Song-wise hybridization is taken further: from the off-beat Afro-nu-folk of Dragon Tree and Wild Boars; to the Ry Cooder-esque East St Louis and Build Me A Weapon; to the ngoni (Malian lute)-meets crooked old time Chesapeake Bay-themed tune Crab On The Line; to the pop-tinged, calabash and clawhammer banjo driven East Virginia and (21st Century) Traveling Man; to the socio-political-gospel blues of Hop On Board and Sisyphus; to the anarchistic Afrobeat of Beauty In the Dirt; and the civil war-themed ballad Letter Home. Recorded both in studio and at home, live and overdubbed, with input from a variety of seasoned musicians, Beauty in the Dirt goes digging into the ground, looking for roots, stirring up ghosts, and uncovering precious artifacts. But rather than try to recreate the past, it takes fragments and shards and creates it's own new musical mosaic. Now living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cory has begun a new chapter in his musical journey, performing regularly with the new band MistO-MistO. Musicians: Cory - guitars, banjo, ngoni, vocals Bud Bodin - percussion David Chalumeau - harmonica Thomas Garoche - upright bass Max Johnson - upright bass (track 7) Renaud Ollivier - percussion/drums Marius Pibarot - violin Yann Seznec - piano/keys/vocals Amelia Spooner - vocals Pete Vilk - drums (track 7) Michael Ward-Bergeman - percussion Production: Bud Bodin, Studio La Fugitive with Cory and Yann Seznec Mastered by Bertrand Natier Artwork: Thomas Le Goff Photography: Mario di Bari coryseznec.com facebook.com/coryseznec.