Photo via Big Blend Radio
Michael Kessler
Michael Kessler
Burlington guitarist Michael Kessler has played in several local Americana groups, including (genre self-explanatory) American Folk and the bluegrass Paddlefoot. Now, he’s stepped out as an artist in his own right with a new album, Gravel Road.
When Kessler began work on the album with veteran Milwaukee recording artist Gary Tanin, he had a mostly solo acoustic song collection in mind. The canvas broadened under Tanin’s direction. “It went in a totally different direction,” Kessler says. “Gary knows what to listen for—what will work on an album and what won’t.”
Gravel Road segues nicely from track to track with the help of fiddlers Georgia Rae and Ernest Brusubardis IV, bassist Joe Vent and other Milwaukee players. The album opens on the upbeat with Bill Monroe’s “Roanoke” in an arrangement suggesting ‘70s country rock or newgrass. Other songs from the bluegrass repertoire (the Dillards’ “There is a Time”) are matched with a pair of Bob Dylan numbers (“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “Quinn the Eskimo”) sung by Kessler in a laconic, Leo Kottke voice. There are surprises, including a quietly intense take on Roy Buchanan’s bluesy “The Messiah Will Come Again” and a version of Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” that sounds … kind of like There Might Be Giants covering Radiohead?
Kessler will perform a good portion of Gravel Road at Summerfest along with bluegrass standards. He will be accompanied by a full band, including Eric Nelson (guitar), Rich Denikas (drums), Michael Gieron (fiddle) and Paul Aceto (bass).
