Nefesh Mountain
Beneath the Open Sky
Although there are a significant number of Jewish virtuoso
bluegrass musicians, the genre itself has rarely been a vehicle for
specifically Jewish-themed music. Margot
Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain
Boys was a great band that combined klezmer and bluegrass traditions but Nefesh Mountain – the husband and wife
duo of multi-instrumentalist Eric
Lindberg and singer Doni Zasloff
– are making Jewish music within a traditional bluegrass framework.
Songs like “Halleluyah,” which I suspect will eventually
become a staple in non-Orthodox musical prayer services, and “On and On (L’Dor
Vador),” about the continuity of generations, easily flow back and forth from
English to Hebrew lyrics, while the traditional bluegrass gospel standard,
“Bound for the Promised Land,” is stripped of its Christian references and
rewritten by Nefesh Mountain as wishful expression for peace in the Holy Land. One
of the most joyous songs is their bluegrass setting of “Oseh Shalom,” and after
an intense collection of full band bluegrass tunes, they end the CD quietly
with a lovely version of Irving Berlin’s
“Russian Lullaby.”
Joining Lindberg and Zasloff on these songs are several
A-list bluegrass musicians including banjo maestro Tony Trischka, Jerry Douglas
on Dobro, mandolinist Sam Bush and
guitarist David Grier.
--Mike
Regenstreif
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