Recording: Country Phasers

Artist: Country Phasers

Song: #50 (Part 1)

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Country for Communists), March 10, 2022.

Country Phasers - #50 (Part 1)

So, first of all: how strange to be back here. Back in the Southern Cross, the best place in the city to listen to music. Looking towards the "stage", you could almost imagine nothing had changed, until you look back at the new bar, or over at the new doors. The vibe felt familiar too, with a more robust crowd trickling out after the earlier set, leaving a smaller group hanging out for the late slot's exploratory vibes.

One of the patrons of the early-slot bluegrass jam, pondering whether to stick around, accosted Kurt Newman as he was setting up, asking what sort of music his group would be playing. Clad in a Johnny Paycheck tour t-shirt, he averred it would be not entirely unlike the early set, and reaching for a description, said it would be "odd, but gentle." Pause to think. "Or odd in a gentle way." The bluegrass aficionado did not stick around.

I didn't come right out and ask how this group, the Country Phasers, differs from Newman's pre-pandemic Nashville Minimalism Unit. There are some conceptual similarities, such as the melding of the country and the odd, and a similar modularity – like the NMU, this project could be Newman solo (as on a new Rat-Drifting album) or is could swell to any number of rotating guests. (On this night, the band was Newman on pedal steel with Andrew Furlong on bass, Patrick O'Reilly on guitar, and Pete Johnston on bass VI.) There are a few musical tweaks here (as Nick Flanagan noted during his comedy set, "I think I heard a hint of maximalism in there") with the pieces spiralling outward from a series of phase-y, warbly pedal steel loops that the musicians used as a baseline.

How nice and cool to see musicians listening and reacting to each other in real time! A wry grin or a sidelong glance waiting for Newman to nod his head to indicate a chord change, it's all the stuff you don't get just listening to a recording. Plus: other humans in the room to hang out with between sets! It all feels a little weird, but kinda good, hey? This is theoretically what we've been waiting to do for the past twenty-four months.