Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Fernwood: Acoustic Americana world chamber music

:13
IN AN ERA OF COMPUTER GENERATED MUSIC WHERE EVEN THE ROOTSIEST POP SONG IS ELECTRONICALLY MANIPULATED, A BAND CALLED FERNWOOD WANTS TO DO THE MUSIC VERSION OF GETTING BACK TO NATURE.

:16
Gayle Ellett: It's a reaction to modern music and where modern music is going and it's so computer driven and played by machines and it's a deliberate statement saying that's bad. It's wrong. We should avoid that.

:14
THAT'S GAYLE ELLETT. YOU MIGHT SURMISE FROM THAT STATEMENT THAT GAYLE IS AN ANTI-TECHNOLOGY LUDDITE, BUT CONSIDER THAT FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS, HE'S BEEN PLAYING ELECTRIC GUITAR IN THE ULTRA-PROGRESSIVE ROCK GROUP, DJAM KARET.

MUSIK

:27
DJAM KARET REVELS IN COMPLEX COMPOSITIONS AND DYNAMIC MUSICIANSHIP, BUT WITH FERNWOOD, GAYLE ELLETT WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING SIMPLER. ALONG WITH HIS PARTNER, TODD MONTGOMERY, THEY'VE ARRIVED AT AN AMERICANA WORLD CHAMBER MUSIC BASED MOSTLY ON STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. THOSE STRINGS INCLUDE IRISH AND GREEK BOUZOUKIS, MANDOLINS AND SITARS, BANJO AND OUD. TODD MONTGOMERY, WHO MAINLY PLAYS SITAR, DOESN'T WANT TO GO TO FAR.

:09
TM: I want to play where, if my teacher were to hear it he wouldn't be offended. It has to be enough Indian where he's not going to be angry, you know.

Musik

:14
YOU MIGHT WONDER HOW THE MAKERS OF SUCH EXOTIC MUSIC CHOSE SUCH A PEDESTRIAN NAME. FOR PEOPLE OF A CERTAIN AGE, FERNWOOD IMMEDIATELY CALLS TO MIND THE 1970S MARTIN MULL COMEDY SERIES, FERNWOOD 2NITE.
BITE

:19
THAT'S NOT WHAT THE BAND HAD IN MIND. FERNWOOD IS THE TOPANGA CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE GAYLE ELLETT LIVES, AND ASIDE FROM THE UNINTENDED TV SHOW REFERENCE, IT SEEMS TO CONJURE UP THE FOLKY STYLE OF THE GROUP. BUT THIS IS FOLK MUSIC WITH RESONANT OVERTONES AND EXOTIC TOUCHES.

MUSIK

THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM FERNWOOD IS CALLED ALMERIA, NAMED FOR A SPANISH PORT CITY. THEIR MUSIC TRAVELS THERE AND INTO OTHER FOREIGN LOCALS, DISCOVERING THE SOUND OF INSTRUMENTS COMBINED, BUT UNADORNED. I'M JOHN DILIBERTO AND THIS HAS BEEN AN ECHO LOCATION, SOUNDINGS FOR NEW MUSIC.