Sometimes it can be something as simple as a chance remark that leads a person to make some astonishing new music, and that’s the case for Joseph Decosimo on his new album “Fiery Gizzard“. It was an encounter with Hiss Holden Messenger’s M.C. Taylor that laid the foundations for Decosimo’s third solo record with Taylor making the comment: “what would this Old-time fiddle music sound like if it were given an Albion Country Band / Fairport Convention sort of treatment?”. What indeed.
It would take electrified banjo, spacious electric guitar, pump organ and hypnotic, shambling percussion to discover the answer, through the interweaving old-time ballads and groove-heavy instrumentals. It’s a new sound for the familiar, a different edge if you will.
Decosimo explains about today’s song from the album that: “I love nursery rhyme type songs like ‘Ida Red.’ I’ve also long been obsessed with the ethereal banjo playing and singing of Eastern Kentucky’s Morgan Sexton (1911-1922). I took my cues from a video of Sexton posted to YouTube by the amazing folks at Appalshop—a longstanding hub of Appalchian culture and creativity that is recovering from a catastrophic flood in 2022. We’ve added some electric guitar, fiddle, organ, and shuffling drums to draw out new playfulness and joy with the piece.”
