September 29, 2004 Music » Music Features

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Furtado Adds Country Flavor 

Banjo wizard leaves Appalachia for Byrds-ville

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click to enlarge Tony Furtado -- off the banjo track
  • Tony Furtado -- off the banjo track
When Tony Furtado expresses his musical philosophy, that background noise you hear is record execs tearing their hair out. "You can't play a type of music just to please people," says the former Grand National Banjo Champion. "Every couple of years I just refocus a little bit and make sure that I'm doing what I want to do."

Furtado had a record contract with Rounder at 19, putting out four records of bluegrass and old-time music on the label before realizing he was mainly listening to other types of music including slide guitar and American roots music as well as writing songs in those genres. "I needed to make sure I was happy with what I was doing," the singer-songwriter says. "So I took a couple of years off and started learning slide guitar and digging into music that I really loved."

That was about eight years ago, about the time his Roll My Blues Away album came out. His switch from banjo to slide guitar was a radical departure, but Furtado was never afraid that people wouldn't embrace his new mode of expression. "I wasn't too worried about it because I knew that if I was to try to play to the people who only wanted to hear me playing banjo, I'd be doing the wrong thing."

Furtado credits slide guitarist Ry Cooder's '74 album Paradise and Lunch as the main culprit in his switch from banjo to slide guitar. "The coolest thing to me was he was taking influences from all the stuff that I loved. It made me realize, "Oh, you can do that. You can take influences from across the board and just play what you love.'"

Though it was the early 90s, Furtado went back to the early 70s, exhuming the works of David Lindley, Taj Mahal and early Bonnie Raitt for inspiration.

A recent gig also threw Furtado back to the 70s for more inspiration. The guitarist was part of the tribute to Gram Parsons held this June at the Universal Amphitheater in LA, backing artists as diverse as Keith Richards, Steve Earle and John Doe of X. Furtado says the highlight was standing next to Keith Richards on stage, "hearing his under-his-breath remarks and just getting to play with the guy."

The gig also made him realize that he knew more Byrds and Burrito Brothers material than he realized. He first thought he might be interested in performing some covers, but after listening to a stack of them, he found that as a budding songwriter, the material gave him new song ideas.

Furtado's latest album, These Chains has a few songs with a definite country flavor -- a collaboration with ex-NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson, another with Jim Lauderdale, and a Chips Moman song Furtado says he lifted from a Waylon Jennings album. But the overall sound is a mix of Americana and pop, a description that sits well with Furtado. "I could totally hear that, yeah. Some songs have catchy pop hooks, and some songs are straight-up American roots kind of songs."

Nine of the songs are written by Furtado, his first compositions with lyrics. He had tried years before but it took a near-tragedy to get the words flowing. "My father came down with cancer, and I didn't know if he was gonna live or not," the singer says. "I remember just sitting in a room, and it was a simple little tune that I wrote ... just a few verses and a chorus, very heartfelt, and it just popped out. I was like, "oh, that's how it happens.' All of a sudden it made sense to me."

Now that he's got it figured out, Furtado is concentrating on taking his old influences and writing songs. But fans of the old Furtado sound shouldn't worry that the new version will ignore what got him noticed in the first place. He stills plays banjo, featuring it on several cuts on the new album, and will still include it in concert as well. "In the live show, I always combine elements of everything I've done. It's all there because there's something about everything I've done that I love, even if I'm pushing a new album, I'm not necessarily getting up on stage and playing the new album. That just doesn't feel right to me -- just doesn't feel like a complete show."

But Furtado listeners shouldn't get too complacent. The guitarist wants to make sure his needs are met as well as those of his fans. "I'm currently writing for the next studio album, and I don't know what kind of direction that sound's gonna be," he says. "We're tying to figure that out right now."

Tony Furtado plays the Visulite Theater Friday at 11pm with special guests Gigi Dover and Eric Lovell. Raleigh bluegrass band Old Habits opens. Tickets are $8

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