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Nashville’s diverse music scene, you’ve noticed me talking about it a lot on this blog even though I haven’t moved outside of the singer/songwriter & Americana genres…until today.  While spending some time on BandCamp.com I came across an album called the “Bobby Thompson Reels Vol. 1” by the experimental rock group De Novo Dahl. Because I work in the Bluegrass music industry I automatically knew who Bobby Thompson was. For those unfamiliar with him he was one of the greatest session players in Nashville. Playing with the likes of Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, the list goes on & on. In 2005 Bobby’s nephew, Rob Rickman Jr., came across some old reel to reel tapes from the various sessions Bobby Thompson was a part of. Here is his description on how these tapes were used by De Novo Dahl to form the “Bobby Thompson Reels Vol. 1”.

“Bobby passed away in May of 2005 after living with multiple sclerosis for the better part of two decades, during which time he lost his ability to play music. Following his death, I visited my aunt and learned of these reels that are largely comprised of unreleased material. An amateur audio archivist, I undertook transferring them to digital format as a way of ensuring that his work would be preserved for generations to come, while also wanting to allow my aunt to hear any given piece without having to fire up the reel-to-reel player.

Being rather obsessed with finding samples at the time, Joel and I heard lots of potential in these reels that dated from the 1950’s through the 80’s. Several years had passed when Joel informed me this past fall that he intended to release a DND EP centered on samples from the reels that he had started to piece together four years ago. Though I’m biased, this is such a cool, unique project. I’m very grateful to Joel for putting his energy into it.”

The “Bobby Thompson Reels” is a 4 track EP that will have you bobbing your head from the kickoff of “Country Funky” to the last track “Golden Gates”. The song I’ve decided to highlight from this EP is “Country Funky”. The song kicks off with Bobby’s signature banjo playing, which remains a staple throughout the song, & builds the longer it plays with drum loops, distorted electronic sounds & the occasional interlude of Bobby talking about different types of banjos & styles of playing. This is an album worth checking out in its entirety as each song as creative as the last.

For more info on De Nova Dahl visit their homepage & BandCamp.com. For those interested in hearing/learning more about Bobby Thompson visit BobbyThompsonBanjo.com