About Me
Bohrium was a gas!Just a note to say how much i appreciated the response to my music at the Table of the Elements festival in Atlanta and here on MySpace. Ive met some wonderful folks and heard great inspiring music.Thank you sincerely!R.Keenan Lawler is a musician and sound artist based in Louisville Kentucky. For over 25 years his musical journey has taken him from early experiments with reverb tanks,noise and tapedecks to all manner of avantgarde,"new" music,psychedelia,electro acoustic,drone,ethnic and sampler based work. Lawler is best known for developing a highly personal and exploratory language for the metal bodied resonator guitar which Baltimore's John Berdnt called "Cosmic, monolithic and deeply American. Indeed his work is informed by carnatic classical,Charles Ives, Albert Ayler, blues, minimalism and non western trance musics. Primarily a solo performer,he is also known for collborative work. The Keyhole II album he recorded with Pelt and metal worker Eric Clark is one of Pelt's most beautiful and memorable recordings. and His guitar playing is also heard on releases by Paul K,Jack Wright,My Morning Jacket and most visibily on Matmos The Civil War.He has collaborated or performed with a wide range of foward thinking musicians and mavericks including Rhys Chatham, John Butcher, Pelt, Eliott Sharp, Charalambides, Ignaz Schick/Perlonex, Matmos, Philip Samartzis, Valerio Cosi,Kaffe Matthews, Burning Star Core,Jason Kahn,Ut Gret,Thaniel Ion Lee,My Morning Jacket, Ed Wilcox ,Ramesh Srinivasan,Kevin Drumm,Craig Colorusso,David Watson, David First, Lukas Ligeti,Raoul Bjorkenheim,Arco Flute Foundation,Jack Wright,Eric Clark,John Berdnt,Neil Feather,Helena Espvall,Ian Nagoski,Thomas Ankersmit,Paul K and the Weathermen,Connor Bell,Andy Willis,John Brunner,The Golden Fleece,Spiral Joy Band,Ian Wadley, Alan Licht,Taksuya Nakatani,Tom Carter,Mike Tamburo,Dave Gross,Mike Bullock,Bhob Rainey,Chris Cooper,Red Fly Nation,Aaron Rosenblum, Joe Dutkiewicz,Meisha Feigin,Ben Vandermeer,Evergreen,Eric Carbonara and Joseph Suchy--------------------------------------Reviews---------- ------------------------------ Keenan Lawler - The Strange Tale of Eddy Westport (New American Folk Hero) Innovators can often be split into two categories, those who break with tradition out of frustration or anger, and those who do so more lovingly, simply looking to explore further a form that they respect. Keenan Lawler, thought his work on the resonator guitar would sound positively alien to most of his fellow Kentuckians, seems more a member of the latter group. The Louisville natives music is a clear descendent of rustic American folk and blues, though largely aberrant progeny, to be sure. The Strange Tale of Eddy Westport is Lawlers most recent release, a teaser, of sorts, for the two discs that will drop on the Music Fellowship label in future months. The three-track disc finds Lawler covering a surprising amount of ground in such a short time, though hearing him on record [sic] doesnt seem to showcase Lawlers arsenal of techniques as much as a live performance can. Still, The Old Fort and A Fork in Gardners Path are some nice slices of Lawlers own obscure Americana, the former more traditional in its dark, serpentine path, the latter a more fragmented collection of some of Lawlers more extended techniques. Goodbye Lisa Rose closes the disc with an abridged performance and humorous footnote, a closing that takes a turn from the levity underpinning the rest of the music. Lawlers just completed a tour with Mike Tamburo, a like-minded individual who runs New American Folk Hero, and should continue to be active with releases and a reissue coming soon. Its hard to view this release as much more than a small taste of whats to come, but thats no reason not to enjoy it. Adam Strohm Fake Jazz Keenan Lawler -"The Strange Tale of Eddy Westport"(New American Folk Hero) Keenan Lawler first came to my attention as a member of Keyhole, a quintet that also features Pelt and metal worker, Eric Clark. Their two albums on Eclipse come highly recommended for anyone interested in the ever-blurring gap between primitive folk and abstract improvisation. Solo, Lawler forges a deep sound portal via his National Steel resonator guitar, an instrument mostly associated with bluegrass and blues. And Lawler is definitely playing a kind of blues on The Strange Tale of Eddy Westport 3 CD-R -- even a kind of bluegrass -- but his measured fingerpicking is run through the filter of unorthodox string benders like Alan Licht, later John Fahey and Keith Rowe. His sound is primal and otherworldly, meditative and boundless, across three tracks of immersive plucks and drones. Lawler bridges the aforementioned gap between the most primitive American mountain music and modern day out jazz, and he does it live with no overdubs. Case in point: Goodbye Lisa Rose, 90 seconds of lamenting bow screech and spectral overtones that conjure a state of near-religious exaltation and uncertain malaise at the same time. An inspired take on so-called Americana music. 8/10 - Lee Jackson
