Description
A Place at the Table is a – part vocal/part instrumental – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by the folk duo The Civil Wars (Joy Williams and John Paul White) and singer/songwriter and producer T-Bone Burnett, released on Sensibility Music in February 2013. The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett. Sensibility Music is an American label, recording, marketing, management and licensing company founded by Joy Williams and her husband Nate Yetton in October 2008. Located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Award-winning producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett and the celebrated Nashville duo the Civil Wars come together to write and perform the music for Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush’s documentary on hunger in America. On A Place at the Table, Burnett and the Civil Wars perform music that evokes America’s Appalachian past with a contemporary undercurrent, reflecting how poverty has been an issue of the past and the present in the United States. As the film focuses on three real-life families struggling to put food on the table, this music mirrors their struggles and their desire for a better life for themselves and their children. Released only a few months before the Civil Wars’ successful self-titled second album, A Place at the Table is a moving collection of themes that reflects the duo’s growing maturity as well as their work with one of the leading lights of the Americana scene.
A warning to Civil War and T-Bone Burnett fans, this CD is a soundtrack for the 2013 documentary ‘A Place At The Table’ starring Jeff Bridges and should not be confused with their purely musical offerings. The documentary of the same name, also released March 1, 2013, examines hunger in America.
The combination of The Civil Wars (Joy Williams and John Paul White) and T-Bone Burnett stands up with a dark, smoking feel. Although a few songs include vocals, many short instrumentals are incorporated as would be expected with most soundtracks. The hidden treasure here is to experience the artist’s talents in instrumentals. This includes Williams haunting play on piano and White’s slide guitar work, all accented by the deep blues guitar of Burnett.
Throughout the production, a deep scratchy old blues feel is engineered which lays the foundation for the soundtracks coloring of the documentary. The opener, «Mississippi Delta», showcases this effect followed by the threesome’s harmony in «Long Time Gone» with accents of solid percussion and William’s signature vocal qualities.
Burnett’s instrumentals continue to color the soundtrack with the lonely, desperate calling of hunger including «Uptown Brown’s», «At The Table», «Witness To Hunger» and «I Do Exist». «Barbie At The Bodega», «Focus (Rosie’s Theme)» and «Getting Worse» round out the Civil Wars instrumentals with the latter showcasing Williams piano play. All three combine for some of the best instrumentals including «The Need» and «Witness To Hunger» with hard acoustic notes displaying the horrors of hunger.
It is the vocal pieces, as would be expected, that shine. «Long Time Gone (The Dustbowl Version)» is slow and deliberate with banjo, violin, and vocals bring the listener directly to the documentary’s message. «Finally North» has William’s vocals taking on a different range. The melancholy harmony depicts a tenuous and hard drawn journey.
Not having seen the documentary, it is difficult to envision the synergy of music and film. The documentary’s topic of hunger is well portrayed through the soundtrack’s feel of desperation. For fans of The Civil Wars, some will feel the production of a soundtrack may be too early in their career as this offering contains more instrumental than vocal (ex. Mark Knopfler’s career with Dire Straits prior to delving into soundtracks.) However, this is a rare opportunity to experience the combination of T-Bone Burnett and The Civil Wars producing a dark, smoky musical vision of an important and often forgotten issue. [Scott S Mertens, The Phantom Tollbooth, 19 March 2013]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-place-at-the-table-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/603105061)
CD tracklist:
01. T Bone Burnett – Mississippi Delta – 1:35
02 The Civil Wars & T Bone Burnett – Long Time Gone – 3:44
03. T Bone Burnett – Uptown Brown’s – 3:39
04. The Civil Wars – Focus (Rosie’s Theme) – 2:21
05. T Bone Burnett – At the Table – 1:26
06. The Civil Wars & T Bone Burnett – The Need – 2:38
07. The Civil Wars & T Bone Burnett – Long Time Gone (Dustbowl Version) – 2:43
08. T Bone Burnett – Food Deserts – 2:22
09. T Bone Burnett – Jonestown Elementary (Tremonica) – 3:05
10. The Civil Wars – Getting Worse – 2:00
11. The Civil Wars – Barbie at the Bodega – 2:56
12. T Bone Burnett – Witnesses to Hunger – 2:26
13. T Bone Burnett – I Do Exist – 3:36
14. The Civil Wars – Finding North – 3:40
Note: Released on both CD and 12-inch vinyl LP by Sensibility Music, though track 12 “Witnesses to Hunger” is not included on the vinyl version.
“Long Time Gone” (MUSIC VIDEO)
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.