Bill Frisell, who is ostensibly a jazz guitarist, has been poking around with other forms of traditional American music for long enough now that "The Willies," a collection mainly of bluegrass tunes, comes as no surprise. But as with anything Frisell lays his hands to, this album is not without its quirks. In his characteristic way, Frisell uses loads of deep, warm reverb, delays and loops, as well as modern chord voicings and phrasing to carry the music a long way from the mountains and front porches where it was born.
Like many of Frisell's albums over the past decade -- "Good Dog Happy Man," "Blues Dream" or "Ghost Town" -- "The Willies" seems to pull in several directions at once. The music may be bluegrass, but it is also just about everything else Frisell has touched at one time or another: jazz, of course, but also blues, country, rock and impressionistic sound collages. Joining the guitarist on this outing is Danny Barnes on banjo and pump organ and Keith Lowe on acoustic bass. Barnes is a Texan who is at home with many forms of traditional American music, while Lowe, who lives in Seattle, has played with a range of performers, Fiona Apple and Wayne Horvitz, to name just a couple. (Lowe also has a passion for antique motion lamps, old space toys and evil dolls . . .) Frisell has chosen his collaborators wisely.
On the tune "Single Girl, Married Girl," Frisell enters with a stately chord that hangs in the air a moment before it slowly melts into the depths of the song. The guitarist then picks out a loose interpretation of the melody and, as the chords wash by, he deftly teases fresh ideas out of this classic number -- a feat all the more impressive given that it has been played countless times by as many musicians. The first 90 seconds of "Sittin' on Top of the World" is likewise suspended in space as Frisell adorns it with ideas strange and wonderful until the banjo begins pedaling forward and the momentum pulls Frisell -- and the listener -- back to earth.