Review: Nefesh Mountain- 'Beacons'
After three years and multiple tour stops from their 2021 album Songs for the Sparrows, Nefesh Mountain is back with their biggest album ever. This time, it's not one disc but two, with each showcasing a different aspect of the band's repertoire.
Nefesh Mountain's co-founders and core members, Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, have built a following in the bluegrass and string band community, so the first disc in this double album, simply titled 'Americana', is a tonal stretch that, for the most part, lands. Nefesh Mountain takes great advantage of Americana's notoriously big tent of musical influences, pulling from country, Southern rock, blues, and gospel music.
'Americana' primarily features Nefesh Mountain's core touring band, with a little help on pedal steel from Grammy Award-winning instrumentalist Greg Leisz (Ray LaMontagne, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson). It shows that the band is tight throughout the disc.
The album's highlight track is “Heaven is Here.” With a Dickey Betts-esque guitar riff to anchor, it's a song about finding one's glory and happiness in the here and now rather than waiting for a divine intervention. “Are we betting on a promise”, Lindberg sings, “Until the hour is upon us?” Later he advises “If it's out there by the moon / then let's be dancing in it's glow.”
Another strong track on Americana is the traditional blues gospel song “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.” First recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1928 and re-recorded by scores of gospel and blues artists since, Nefesh Mountain finds a way to make it fresh, keeping the blues guitar core of the original song intact while amping up the electricity with some soaring solos.
The second disc, entitled 'Bluegrass', finds Nefesh Mountain backed by as strong an all-star band of Nashville greats as you can find in the bluegrass world. Playing on 'Bluegrass' are mandolinist Sam Bush, fiddler Stuart Duncan (Goat Rodeo Sessions), Dobroist Jerry Douglas, banjo player Rob McCoury (Travelin' McCourys), guitarist Cody Kilby (Ricky Skaggs), and bassist Mark Schatz (Nickel Creek).
Unsurprisingly considering that lineup backing the not inconsiderable talents of Zasloff and Lindberg, it's the two instrumental tracks that shine here. “The Overgrown Reel” is a traditional bluegrass reel heavily featuring McCoury's banjo work. “No Farm, No Howl” is the more intriguing of the two, a slice of newgrass with a hint of jam in it that leans heavily into the mandolin of Sam Bush, the godfather of newgrass.
Other highlight tracks on 'Bluegrass' include “Man of Manzanilla,” an ode to the late bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice, the hard-driving celebration of self “This is Me,” the percussive “Regrets in the Rearview,” and the traditional bluegrass stylings of “Wild River.” There are also a couple of successful covers of 'Bluegrass'. The first is a surprising grassy retooling of Eric Clapton's “Keep on Growing.” The second is the guitar ballad “Song for the Life,” originally recorded by Rodney Crowell.
It was a smart idea to separate this album into two distinctive discs. Even if they'd just taken the best of each album to make one LP, the differences between the styles would be jarring. As is, Nefesh Mountain crafts an album with two distinctive discs to fit any mood.