KIERAN KANE, one of the godfathers of Americana music and founding member of the critically acclaimed Dead Reckoning record label, cracks a wide-toothed smile when talking about his new solo album, Somewhere Beyond the Roses. “We got together in a little room, basically sitting on top of each other, and had a musical conversation for two days. I’ve made somewhere between 12-15 albums and this is the album I’ve always wanted to make – I love this
record.”

The “we” Kane is referring to is Deanna Varagona (Lambchop) on baritone sax, Richard Bennett (Neil Diamond, Mark Knopfler) on electric guitar, and Lucas Kane (Kane’s son and member of Kane, Welch, Kaplin) on drums. David Olney provides backing vocals on “Don’t Try To Fight It” and long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin sits in on steel guitar on “Unfaithful Heart”. “I heard Deanna playing at The Family Wash in east Nashvile”, says Kane, “She was accompanying a folk singer and playing the most delicate voice-like backing lines – it was absolutely beautiful. I approached Deanna a few months later about doing the album, she said yes, and off we went. When I told my friends I was making an album centered around the banjo and the baritone sax, they thought I was crazy …til they heard it. It works, doesn’t it?”

Using an unorthodox banjo tuning (Kane’s Kay banjo is always tuned to GCGCC), nine of Somewhere Beyond the Roses’ eleven tracks are written in the key of C, and include very few, (sometimes no) chord changes. “The genius of the players of the 1950′s: Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Little Walter – I was obsessed with them and how they did so much with so little. The 1950′s-era two-chord concept has always been a big influence on my music, particularly so while I was writing the songs for this album.”

Kane’s vocals are stripped down, telling raw, intimate, and honest stories lived or….read more

KIERAN KANE – Somewhere Beyond the Roses on CD