The Shopkeeper – A film by Rain Perry

Mark Hallman at Congress House Studio

THE SHOPKEEPER

A film by Rain Perry

shopkeepermovie.com

rainperry.com

I first discovered singer-songwriter Rain Perry in 2003 when Tom Russell sang her beautiful song “Yosemite” on a promo EP sent out in conjunction with his Modern Art album. I believe he recorded the song during the sessions for that album at Mark Hallman’s Congress House Studio in Austin, Texas. About a decade later, I wrote about Rain’s album Men, which was also recorded at Congress House with Mark as producer, principal accompanist and occasional songwriting collaborator.

Rain Perry

Rain’s latest project is a highly interesting and engaging documentary film called The Shopkeeper which, on the surface, tells the story of Mark Hallman’s career as a musician – he was a principal in the ‘70s band Navarro and worked extensively as a sideman with Dan Fogelberg and Carole King – recording engineer and record producer, and of his Congress House Studio, by now the longest-running recording studio in Austin, one of the great American music cities.

But, more than that, the film looks at how the music business has changed over the decades of Mark’s career and at the existential issues facing artists, recording studios and record companies in an era where the public wants to consume music without paying for it.

Rain effectively uses comments and commentaries from artists – some who I know well, some whose music is familiar to me, some who I’d not heard of before – including Mark Hallman, of course, Tom Russell, Eliza Gilkyson, Ani DiFranco, Andrew Hardin, Sarah Hickman, Iain Matthews and many others. These artists lend much insight both to the stories of Congress House and to how the underlying issues of a changing music business have affected them and their careers. There are several terrific segments where singer-songwriter Jon Dee Graham uses facts and figures (with charts) to show the financial changes in the music business over the years.

Along the way we get to hear some of the great music that has been made at the Congress House over the years and bear witness to Mark’s struggle to keep the studio economically viable.

The Shopkeeper is a film that should be seen by anyone interested in understanding what it means to be an independent roots music artist in these times.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Rain Perry – Men

RAIN PERRY

Men

Precipitous Records

rainperry.com

The nicest things about writing music reviews mostly for my own blog – as opposed to for newspapers and magazines, which I did for decades and still do on rare occasions – is that I only have to write about music that I really care about and about albums and artists that whose praises I want to sing. I don’t have nearly enough time to write about all that I’d truly like to write about so I don’t spend any time writing about music and artists I’m not enthusiastic about.

I say that because Men by California singer-songwriter Rain Perry is not the kind of album I generally like. I generally don’t care for recordings where all of the tracks are layered on by one musician playing most of the parts, or where many of the instruments are synthesized. I much prefer the sound of real instruments, particularly acoustic instruments, being played by different musicians, preferably at the same time. And like every rule, there are occasional exceptions: Leonard Cohen’s albums like I’m Your Man that were built around keyboards and drum machines or some of Laurie Anderson’s work, for example.

Rain’s Men is another exception. Although there are other musicians and singers making an occasional cameo on some of the songs, most of the songs are just Rain’s vocals on top of layered arrangements with producer and occasional songwriting collaborator Mark Hallman playing all the instruments – usually five or six different instruments per song.

But, there’s something about the quality of the songwriting and the warmth of Rain’s singing, that makes Men a rewarding collection.

Among the highlights are “Get in the Car,” a breezy rock ‘n’ roll tune for mature adults that includes a great Gram Parsons reference, “One of Those Days,” a mostly acoustic country-folk tune done as a duet with Matt the Electrician, and “Runaway Train,” a terrific rockabilly tune about a man who can’t be tied down that features several guest musicians, including Andrew Hardin, one of my favorite guitar players.

But the most extraordinary piece is “Atlas,” a combination of spoken beat poetry and quietly hypnotic electronic music somewhat reminiscent of Laurie Anderson’s best work, in which Rain fantasizes about what happens to Atlas, and to the world, when the Titan of Greek mythology gives up on holding the world on his shoulders in modern times.

As well as eight of her own songs, Rain also includes a couple of covers including a terrific version of “Then Came Lo Mein,” Robert Earl Keen’s story of a nervous breakdown in a Chinese restaurant.

Listening, I soon forgot my prejudices about the way this album was produced, and managed to lose myself in Rain Perry’s fine singing, her equally fine songs, and even in Mark Hallman’s arrangements.

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And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif