Intermezzo I

“Here is a truly creative songwriter and composer, as well versed in traditional bluegrass as in the avant garde.” – John Newman (Random Tracks), November 2007

“One of those cats heralding bluegrass and folk into the new century, holding to tradition while influenced by his generation.” – Bill Mickelson (Bainbridge Island Review), January 2008

“Wayfaring like the Hackensaw Boys, but vogue like the Avett Brothers.” Jonathan Stumpf (Missoula Independent), September 2007

“Hill’s lyrics are educated and smart.” – Andrew Fenstermaker (Fense Post), November 2007

“If you're interested in real American music, go see Hill.” – Jeff Echert (Pacific Northwest Inlander), January 2008

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Adam Hill still has faith in the viability of American folk music. A firm believer that folk is not just a genre of the sixties, he prefers Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and Jolie Holland to Joan Baez. Not simply adverse to the era, you’ll also find Oscar Pettiford and Gyorgy Ligeti in his record collection; he’s not your average guy with guitar. Case in point: how many singer-songwriters would begin an album with the prelude to Bach’s second cello suite arranged for trumpet, bass, and radio? Or, for that matter, would record the trumpet with the microphone placed inside a piano, the sustain pedal down? And although he reads the New Yorker magazine for the global political coverage as much as the contemporary short fiction and poetry, he writes lyrics with less of an activist approach of, say, Pete Seeger, and more of a literary awareness of, maybe, David Berman or John K Sampson.

It was a stack of New Yorkers he found in the small adobe hut he retreated to one winter. Along with ample reading material and heat, the casita was also equipped with a turn-of-the-century grand piano. A respite during two years of nearly constant touring, Adam recorded Them Dirty Roads there. Rewind: (you see, following the release of his debut album, Four Shades of Green, he had taken to the highways both by himself and with several other Portland, Oregon bands in which he played. His travels took him to clubs from California to Colorado to Carolina and to major music gatherings such as South by Southwest, the River City Bluegrass Festival, the Yellowstone Music Festival, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and the National Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Music Festival.) Volvió muy cansado: but Them Dirty Roads isn’t your typical tale of musty motel rooms and broken down vans. Rather, it’s a glimpse into a soul that reeks of the migratory tendencies so integral to the American spirit.