"BEDELIA" | Frank Fairfield & Meredith Axelrod

Elympic Records presents "Bedelia", the 2nd recording from the NASHVILLE SESSIONS with Frank Fairfield & Meredith Axelrod — Recorded at Elympic Records in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on September 6 & 8, 2018.

MUSIC & VIDEO:
Produced & Recorded | Filmed & Directed
By Jonathan Britt
@ ELYMPIC RECORDS
[A One-Take Audio & Video Performance]

MUSIC MIXED BY
Daniel Jason Booth
SPLMixing.com

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Matthew Britt & Joey Britt

~ RECORDING GEAR USED ~

AEA R84 Ribbon Microphone
Trumpet Labs Microphone
LA-2A Compressor
KM184 Microphones
Antelope Orion 2017 Recording Interface
AEA RPQ2 MicPre
BAE 1073 MPF Dual-Channel Mic Pre
Canon 70D DSLR Digital Camera
Canon EOS 5D MARK IV DSLR Digital Camera
Cloud Microphone Cloudlifter Mic Activators

FEATURED ARTISTS:

"BEDELIA" | Frank Fairfield & Meredith Axelrod

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FRANK FAIRFIELD

https://www.frankfairfield.net

Frank Fairfield may have an old folk sound, but he's just 24, and he hails from California's central valley -- not Appalachia.

He plays banjo and fiddle music, and has opened for acts such as Fleet Foxes. With his Brylcreem-parted hair and high-waisted pants, he brings an old-time aesthetic to his old-time music. On his self-titled first album, released last year, he plays the standards of the American folk repertoire -- songs that have been played by many artists over generations. He also writes his own songs, but stops short of calling himself a songwriter.


https://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...

Artist Biography by Steve Leggett

Frank FairfieldFrank Fairfield may sound like he was born in a hollow somewhere in the Appalachians, his voice as old as the hills as he scratches out old forgotten blues pieces and murder ballads on banjo, guitar or fiddle, but he hails from the San Joaquin Valley and he spent his childhood and teen years bouncing around California working odd jobs, taking factory shifts and occasionally attending school. Eventually he settled in Los Angeles, where he discovered he was pretty good at busking on street corners. A slot as the opening act on a Fleet Foxes tour resulted in a recording deal with the folk and traditional music label Tompkins Square, who released his debut album, the self-titled Frank Fairfield, in 2009. Fairfield's next release, 2010’s Unheard Ofs & Forgotten Abouts. A proper second album, Out on the Open West, appeared in 2011 from Tompkins Square.

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MEREDITH AXELROD:

https://meredithaxelrod.com

“Meredith Axelrod sings and plays guitar as if she really returned to the pre-mic days. We’re not talking revisionist copy of so and so from way back when; we’re talking as if we plucked an original out of the era and time-traveled…” – JL Stiles

“It takes more than passion to do what Meredith does. It takes guts; conviction. She is unflinchingly committed to authentic recreation of the tunes in her repertoire–swampy blues and early American roots music.” – Gary Rametta

Delightfully engaging and unassumingly comic, Meredith Axelrod envisions the limitless potential of early twentieth century music, whether it be Ragtime, Music Hall, Pop Standard, Boogie Woogie, Tin Pan Alley, String band, Jazz, Country, Blues or even Jug Band music, and embodies the spirit that brought the music into existence in the first place. Her vocal style is unusual, probably because she learned to sing by listening to how folks did it a century ago – through the medium of cylinders and 78-rpm records.

The dominant theme throughout her expansive repertoire, is that, whatever the genre, these are songs she learns from the original sources (records and / or sheet music) which were released between the 1890s and the 1930s. Part of the allure of old time music, indeed any music throughout the history of recorded music, is hearing the original recordings as played and sung by the original performers in their heyday, loving what they’re doing and doing it because it means something to them in that moment, never because of nostalgia, and Meredith brings the same unbridled passion, earnest devotion and candid vitality to all of her music.

Axelrod often partners with string virtuoso Craig Ventresco; they perform at venues and festivals that include the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, West Coast Ragtime Festival and Blind Boone Early Jazz Festival. Meredith appears in myriad cooperatives: with her own hot jazz band, her own string band, in partnership with solo act dynamo Frank Fairfield, and often with the 60s Folk / Jug Band legend, Jim Kweskin…. She has also performed with Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Ramblin’ Jack Eliot, David Grisman, Cindy Cashdollar, Bill Keith, Terry Zwigoff, Sonny Leyland, Robert Crumb, and the Cheap Suit Serenaders at favorite venues: The Great American Music Hall, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Freight and Salvage, and recently at Symphony Space in Manhattan. She has toured domestically and internationally.

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