Tim Gartland — “Right Amount of Funky” — Independent (April 25 release)
On the opening moments of his latest album, “Right Amount of Funky,” Tim Gartland grabs you with an elegant harp filigree intro to “Waste A Worry,” and then holds you fast with the quiet strength of his sonorous voice.
Then, once you’re trapped in the lyrical vortex of his worldy wordplay, you can’t not listen. But that just means you’re in tune with the full impact of Gartland’s impressive musical sensibilities.
Gartland has honed those sensibilities for decades, since he caught the blues as a teenager at a Muddy Waters show in his native Ohio. He moved to Chicago after college, continuing his graduate schooling on the Chicago blues scene. There he studied with Waters’ harp player, Jerry Portnoy, and played with the likes of Bo Diddley, Carey Bell, Big Jack Johnson and Pinetop Perkins. Gartland says he’s been deeply influenced by the greats – Little Walter for his groundbreaking harp style, Ray Charles for his interpretation of a song and Willie Dixon for his songwriting. Not bad for post-graduate work.
Gartland moved to Boston in 1989, and after more refining his skills in that scene, he embarked on his solo recording career with the release of his debut album, “Looking Into the Sun,” in 2011. In 2015, he moved on to his current home in Nashville.
And that eventually brings us to this set of eight sharply crafted songs written or co-written by Gartland with Nashville singer/songwriter Karen Leipziger. Backing up Gartland on the album are Jack Bruno, drums; Mike Joyce, bass; Robert Frahm, electric guitar and Nalani Rothrock on background vocals. Biglittle Recording studio owner and album co-producer with Gartland, Andy Peake, adds percussion and background vocals. Dennis Drummond provides acoustic guitar and backing vocals and Jolie Grace delivers backing vocal support.
Together they blend into a crisp musical framework that explores Garland’s contemporary lyrical vision with rootsy authenticity. Gartland says of his songwriting: “The blues is essentially a genre in which the singer is having a cathartic experience. If you write about themes that are meaningful to your experience, you will create something new.”
The aforementioned “Waste A Worry” opens everything up with Gartland’s richly relaxed vocals and a swinging harp solo highlighting its theme: “Don’t waste a worry on me….” The title track, ”Right Amount of Funky” struts out with exactly that — “The groove, that feels true, and makes you move, is the one to use. You know this funk right here, is the right amount of funky for me.”
“A Better Life” (a Leipziger co-write) tackles the theme of immigration with its Latin beat and sharply observant lyrics: “They left home, all they’d ever known, with little more than a pocketful of dreams. A chance at a better life, a promise of what could be.” “Walk Away,” the other Leipziger contribution, follows, and explores a doomed relationship with a bouncy, rocking beat: “The whole attraction was just a distraction….”
“If This Ain’t Heaven” (“it’ll do”) is a joyous love song with still more elegant harp throughout, “Alone Times,” brings a reggae flavor, and “About to Cry” is a slow bit of R&B caught up in its own heartache. The closer, “Stop Working Me” is an upbeat bluesy plea to be free of the world’s hustlers and their too plentiful hustles.
“Right Amount of Funky” is the best kind of music. Tim Gartland creates a light-hearted but thoughtful trip through his world, surrounded by a crisp musical framework. His always elegant harp weaves a bluesy tapestry throughout, and his rich, resonant vocals add power and a world-weary sense that he’s seen it all.
Now you need to hear it all.
Here’s the title track:
Tracks:
01. Waste A Worry
02. Right Amount Of Funky
03. A Better Life
04. Walk Away
05. If This Ain’t Heaven
06. Alone Times
07. About To Cry
08. Stop Working Me
Blues Roadhouse 