From A Heritage Tree
American Standard Time, 2022
9/10
Listen to From A Heritage Tree
The Oregon artist Daniel Sherrill has an impressive resume that includes being the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for Patchy Sanders and Hollis Peach, as well as being a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. On this solo outing, he’s armed with just a banjo for 9 songs that explore his folk and old time ways.
“Quincy Dillon’s Hi-D Tune” opens the listen with Sherrill’s precise banjo playing emitting much warmth and beauty in the flowing folk climate, and “Over The Waterfall” continues this approach with mesmerizing and charming progressions from the skilled string manipulation.
Further down the line, “Cumberland Gap” retains a very melodic structure amid the playful finger acrobatics, while “Fortune”, the best track present, emits a radiant dreaminess that is upbeat amid much grace.
“Salt Creek” and “Deal’em Out Sam” exit the listen, where the former is so precise and swift, it hardly seems like only one banjo is present, and the latter finishes with both intimacy and adventurousness populating the retro formula.
Sherrill plays a banjo made from a fallen 275 year old Claro Walnut tree, and fleshed out the listen in a studio he built during the pandemic. The songs present are traditionals that were penned for fiddle, but they are adapted flawlessly to banjo thanks to Sherrill’s very capable vision and stunning performance.
Travels well with: Erisy Wyatt- Eyes Like The Ocean; This Lonesome Paradise- Nightshades