Kevin Breit and Don Rooke have been friends for decades, but their paths rarely crossed, which is surprising because over the years when they did meet and talk, it was always about the many things they had in common. Their similar, but not identical, musical influences. The similar, but not the same, instruments they play.
A shared love of slide guitar. And the number one common factor that they often discussed: how each of them consistently wrote and recorded music that refused to be categorized. And the pitfalls of that pursuit.
“We don’t fit at jazz festivals.”
“Folkies hate us.”
“This disc is my last, I’m never making another record.”
“Yes you are.”
Their long-term projects - in Kevin’s case, primarily The Sisters Euclid and Folk Alarm, and for Don, The Henrys - boast a wealth of back catalogue and past performances. For each band, the influence of roots music has been undeniable.
Most of the styles Breit and Rooke listened to growing up can be identified in their original writing - blues, folk, jazz, rock, Americana. But for both, what keeps them creating new music is the energy they get from exploring a blend of these genres.
They are constantly looking for textures, melodies that are novel but still true to what they learned to love so many years ago, and the tones of good (if uncommon) instruments.
Then one day, out of the clear blue late 2022 autumn sky, Kevin asked Don if he wanted to join him in making a record (see photo above). Given their histories, the idea had a perverse kind of logic. The duo became a trio when they asked their good friend David Piltch to join on acoustic bass. It is very difficult to imagine a bass player better suited to this music, more steeped in the history, more generous with his ideas and spirit.
They’re calling the music they wrote ‘urban folk’ (although the limitations of that label- of any label - are quickly evident). You can hear passages of film music here, early Americana, folk, the languages of blues and jazz, hints of Mingus, even a touch of classical. And everything was played on weathered, vintage, rare acoustic instruments, several of them 100 years old. The music was recorded together in a home, naturally, without compression or EQ, capturing the intricate, sometimes ornery loveliness of those old pieces of wood and steel. Listening to this you will hear the sound of experienced musicians working together on fresh compositions, playing off each other, exchanging ideas, comparing the notes of
a common history, striving to make a new one.

Jim Strong, Toronto

Kevin’s instruments:

a Martin 0018 guitar, Gibson K2 Octave mandocello,
Sawchyn octave mandolin, Style O resonator guitar,
Lyon and Healy mandocello, National Duolian mandolin,
National Duolian tenor guitar, Yanuziello resonator guitar (with talk box)

Don’s guitars:

a Yanuziello dobro (the first numbered instrument
built by the Canadian luthier),
1936 National squareneck Duolian,
Weissenborn Style 2 thin body c. 1922 made for Christophe’s Dept. store in San Francisco under the moniker “Italian Madonna”,
a Kona, also from LA in the 1920s

David’s bass:

a King Mortone acoustic bass,
instruments first made by H.N. White& Co. in Cleveland in the 1930s. A Mortone was built, per the ad, strong enough to support a robust man standing on its top.
Plywood, sometimes with spruce tops, maple back and sides.
Willie Dixon played one, which is in the Smithsonian.