Description
The fifteen songs that make up Wide Open Fields, the new CD by guitarist and composer Michael Westbound, are a 360 degree tribute to traditional American music and its roots. Ranging from fingerpicking guitar, acoustic country, contemporary folk, blues and Americana, Wide Open Fields is the soundtrack of a ‘journey of the soul’ through natural landscapes of poignant beauty and outside of a normal time frame. On the CD Westbound, in addition to acoustic guitar and slide guitar, plays mandolin, banjo, electric bass and percussion while the violin parts have been entrusted to guest star Mauro Carpi, a prominent name in the European violin scene. The songs go through many diverse atmospheres, always using the acoustic and natural color of the instruments: they range from solo guitar tunes (River Of Life, Western Pacific Rag) to authentic country themes (Silverlight, Tennessee Sunday Polka) to moments of pure Americana (The Long Summer, Southern Skies, Prayer For This Land). A common element to all the compositions is the strength of melody, always ‘cantabile’ and captivating, which makes this cd perfect both for listening and as musical soundtrack for images. Michael Westbound is not a newcomer musician: for over thirty years his activity has ranged among acoustic music, jazz and recording soundtracks. Wide Open Fields is his personal tribute to country and fingerpicking, genres thanks to which he approached music as a teenager and which have since remained firmly in his heart.
A brief description of each track:
01 THE LONG SUMMER The colours of a special summer, forever alive in my heart
02 PRAYER FOR THIS LAND A wordless thanksgiving hymn for our Mother Earth
03 ENDLESS ROAD Traveling alone: just me, the sky and the road.
04 FIELDS AND CLOUDS [Cello version] Home is just a few miles ahead (and someone is waiting for you)
05 MOUNTAIN FOG For a magic landscape, in a white and silent world
06 RIVER OF LIFE Waves of fresh wind flowing all around you
07 HOPI RAIN DANCE Long ago, when men and earth lived in silent harmony
08 SOUTHERN SKIES Going south, where days are brighter and Bigger
09 WESTERN PACIFIC RAG A ride toward a new land and a new life
10 SILVERLIGHT Horses on the run, free as the wind
11 MOUNTAIN RIVER RAG A river singing his song through the pebbles
12 OLD LOVE WALTZ A country waltz for a love lost, but never forgotten
13 SONORA SUNRISE The light of a new day in the desert
14 TENNESSEE SUNDAY POLKA At last, having good time with your best friends
15 FIELDS AND CLOUDS #2 [Guitar solo version, a little bit slower than track 4 version]
