Playing Our Hand, by Evie Ladin Band

Playing Our Hand

by Evie Ladin Band

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of Playing Our Hand via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 10 days

$10 USD or more

1.	Slip Slidin' Away 04:40	info	buy track
2.	You Gotta Be Hunting the Buffalo 03:55	info	buy track
3.	Bear Creek Blues 02:52	info	buy track
4.	Polly Put the Kettle On / Lonesome John 04:39	info	buy track
5.	Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo 03:37	info	buy track
6.	Tightrope / Whiteface 04:04	info	buy track

about

Coming from traditional Old Time music, an album of cover songs sounds pretty redundant - after all, the whole stream of tradition involves reworking music that has been passed down through generations. Yet skilled clawhammer banjo player and songwriter Evie Ladin has always collaborated with diverse musicians who listen across genres, exploring the fluid boundary between old and new. With bass player Keith Terry and guitarist Erik Pearson, the Evie Ladin Band showcases their adventurousness with six cover tracks from very different sources, on the heels of two 2019 releases - the fully original Caught On A Wire, and the fully traditional Riding the Rooster.

PLAYING OUR HAND leads off with Paul Simon’s Slip Slidin’ Away, apropos as we nervously watch our days slip by. You Gotta Be Hunting the Buffalo is a clever mashup of a favorite 90’s R&B song with an old-time tune. Des’ree’s “You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser” rings ever true as our political situation reels, and has brought gasps of recognition and enthusiasm from audiences. The Carter Family’s collected Bear Creek Blues is even more crooked, with Evie adding snappy guitar licks to her usual banjo leads. A medley of modal public domain songs Polly Put the Kettle On/Lonesome John, the band couches in the #metoo movement - flipping the script on that cache of “rascal” songs. It was the Grateful Dead that brought Evie on her first cross-country trip to California at 19, and Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo from Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter rocks out on thumping banjo. While many people got into old time music from the Dead’s endorsement, Evie long ago went the other way - from traditional music into that community that also prioritized gathering together to dance and play. Finally, Janelle Monae’s bouncy Tightrope (here paired with Joe Thrift's tune Whiteface) worked its way into Evie’s collaboration with the multicultural group Crosspulse, with whom she does educational programs. Everyone in the quintet’s arts come from the African Diaspora, and it is in this group that she has long educated audiences on the roots of Appalachian banjo traditions, in a very funky context. The group teases out this message: “whether you’re high or low, you got to tip on the tightrope.” Life’s got highs and lows, and music will help us through our lowest moments.

credits

released October 2, 2020

Evie Ladin lead vocal, banjo, guitar, feet
Keith Terry vocal, bass
Erik Pearson vocal, guitars

J. Goody, Megasonic engineer, mixing
Ken Lee, mastering
Debbie Berne graphic design
Snap Jackson hand drawn illustrations
William Wayland band photo
________________________
Arrangements created and produced by the ELB
Evil Diane Music/Crosspulse Music/Erik Pearson Music, BMI
©℗ 2020

THANKS to all the great songwriters

license

about

Evie Ladin Oakland, California

The polyrhythmic heat and funk of Evie Ladin's clawhammer banjo, resonant voice, real stories and rhythmic dance - have been heard from A Prairie Home Companion to Celtic Connections, Lincoln Center to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. The Evie Ladin Band is an expansive stringband, with Keith Terry - bass and percussion, and Erik Pearson - guitar. Body-slappin neo-trad urban folk. ... more

Recommendations

shows

May 17

Folk & Forage Spring 2024

Veneta, OR

contact / help

Contact Evie Ladin

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Evie Ladin recommends:

The Holy Coming of the Storm
by Cahalen Morrison & Eli West

Sounds old, mostly new, all good. Evie Ladin
go to album

If you like Playing Our Hand, you may also like:

Spider Tales
by Jake Blount

supported by 12 fans who also own “Playing Our Hand”

Powerful collection rooted in the stories that must be re-told. Played by some of the most generous community music people I’ve met during my foray into Old Time music. This CD is a keeper! Ellen B. (Elly) Marshall
go to album
THE ONLIES
by The Onlies

supported by 10 fans who also own “Playing Our Hand”

Great choice of music, expertly played and sung. Nicely produced. I hope to see The Onlies live, asap. This is an album I listen to over and over. Karamogo
go to album
The New Faith
by Jake Blount

supported by 8 fans who also own “Playing Our Hand”

Rushed over to see if Jake was on Bandcamp as soon as I heard him on the latest ETown episode. Excited to hear all of this! rdale131
go to album
Wealth of Sorrow
by Cahalen Morrison

Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 5, 2020
go to album
Spider Tales
by Jake Blount

This album speaks to the continuum of African diasporic culture that is central to the vibrant canon of Americana folk music. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 29, 2020
go to album