Stringer’s Ridge delights with new album
You may not know it yet, but one of the finest traditional Irish fiddle players in the land has made Chattanooga his home. His name is Tom Morley. Tom, along with his wife Fran and band mate Bryant Haynes, make up the folk trio Stringer’s Ridge and their album, Handmade, is available now.
It is, without a doubt, one of the finest folk albums the area has produced and the fact that Tom, Fran, and Bryant are all readily accessible and happy to sit down with a beer and chat is just so much icing on the cake.
Tom was an especially busy man in the ‘80s and early ‘90s working as a hired gun for various artists, including a five-year stint touring and recording with country music legend John Anderson. Morley has a gold record on his wall from that adventure.
It was in 2017, while teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School, that Tom and his wife Fran made the acquaintance of Bryant at New Year’s Eve party. Three months later, Stringer’s Ridge played their first public show at Fiddlers Anonymous here in Red Bank.
In the relatively short time since their debut, the band has firmly established themselves as a beloved favorite in the local scene, particularly among folk enthusiasts, to the point that they have become regulars on the festival circuit and secured a regular rotating gig at the Honest Pint’s “Irish Saturday Nights” series.
With the release of their first album, Stringer’s Ridge cements their place in the pantheon of local music icons.
Featuring Tom on fiddle, mandolin and vocals, Fran on bodhran and other percussion, and Bryant on guitar, vocals, and podorythmie (rhythmic foot percussion, look it up), the trio demonstrates just how big a sound a talented three-piece can create.
The fluidity with which they exchange parts in the music will leave you convinced they’ve been playing together for 34 years, not 34 months.
It speaks both to their talent as individual musicians and to the ineffable connection they shared almost immediately. At the risk of heading too far into left field, it is a given that a pro musician can play with anyone, any time, but there is a rare and wonderful thing that happens when the right musicians meet.
There is an almost spooky level of simpatico where it seems like players anticipate each other’s moves before they make them, as though they are communicating on a whole other level than the audience can glean. Stringer’s Ridge has that sort of simpatico.
Ringing at a healthy twelve tracks, Handmade features a nicely curated collection of traditional Irish and Scots tunes, as well as some classic American fare.
For Stringer’s Ridge, it’s a short trip from the “Cliffs of Moher” to “Shady Grove”, from the “Pikeman’s March” to “the Bus Stop Reel”.
Mostly instrumental, the album does feature some vocals (“Drill Ye Tarriers”, “Shady Grove”, et al.) that prove the band’s pipes are as adept as their fingers.
The release party for the album at WanderLinger has been postponed due to a nasty injury Tom received recently, but will be rescheduled. In the meantime, you can pick up a copy at Fiddlers Anonymous in Red Bank.
A masterfully performed album with the right degree of variety, Handmade is destined to be a favorite of folk lovers everywhere.
