rick SHEA & brantley KEARNS

       In January, 2002, Los Angeles country and roots music stalwart Rick Shea and fiddler/singer extraordinaire Brantley Kearns got together to record Trouble and Me, a project they'd been planning for nearly five years. A collection of reworked traditionals and some other old favorites, plus a few of their own original songs, the album is loosely based on the connection between the musical traditions of North Carolina that Kearns grew up with and the more contemporary folk and country music of California that both Shea and Kearns have spent the better part of their lives playing. Produced by Shea and L.A. roots-rock kingpin and Grammy winner Dave Alvin, the album is an outstanding combination of Brantley Kearns' fiddle playing and superb singing ("He's got some kind of magic in him," raves the L.A.Weekly) with Shea's rock-solid guitar work and expressive vocals ("The best damn country voice since Merle hisself," claims Pulse Magazine).

          The two have toured and played extensively on their own, as a duo, and recently as charter members of Dave Alvin's band, The Guilty Men. According to Alvin, Shea "is an amazing musician and songwriter and one of the finest singers I know... a true expression of California's musical heritage," and Kearns is "North Carolina's Zen master of the fiddle and a true folk musician." Besides working with Alvin the list of credits for the two run from Hazel Dickens and Katy Moffatt to R.E.M. and Dr. Dre.
          Brantley Kearns grew up in High Point, North Carolina, where Appalachian and rural country music styles converge. He started playing fiddle in his father's square dance band at age 11. "We would play the same tune for 10 or 12 minutes at a time for the dancers. It was a great way to learn, to really get the songs under your fingers."

            After spending time in the seminal San Francisco Folk scene in the '60 and early '70 and a few years in David Brombergs band, Brantley headed to Los Angeles   and joined Dwight Yoakums band for the first 3 albums.

          Rick Shea was born in Maryland but started playing music in San Bernardino California where he grew up and where the remnants of Californias golden age of country music still drifted through like the hot winds, "I started playing folk and coffeehouse gigs after High School but after awhile I sort of fell into the country music scene - I used to play the truck stop bars 6 and 7 nites a week, a lot of Merle Haggard and a lot of George Jones".          

          His solo albums have gathered wide praise. No Depression said his 1999 release Sawbones "absolutely sparkles between the grooves...timeless." The Los Angeles Times called 1995's The Buffalo Show "exquisite ...a melodic gem."   As the The LA Weekly puts it, "When one of us gets lucky enough to stray into a spot where Rick Shea is performing, it's like entering a dream state. Shea's mix of almost reverent dignity and sensitive interpretation, put over with one of the finest, most natural-born country baritones in the business, is stunning."
          As a team, Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns are an impressive force and Trouble and Me is testament to that. Opening with a driving instrumental, Shea's "Carolina, Ca." features burning solos by both Shea and Kearns and rolls easily into "Rachel," California folk icon Jim Ringer's tale of a bittersweet first love set in the San Joaquin Valley. On "Loafer's Glory," a Carter Family tune later popularized by Flatt &Scruggs, Kearns' sly drawl perfectly captures the backwoods glee of this tale of a crooked North Carolina storeowner. Shea says the next tune, Mary McCaslin's "San Bernardino Waltz," holds a lot of memories for him, and proves it with his heart-breaking rendition. Kearns sings "Cane on the Brazos," an 1880s convict song, and fills it with all the pain and despair it recalls, complementing himself masterfully on fiddle. "Parish Road" is Shea's tale of illicit love and its tragic consequences set in a rural southern community which Kearns follows with a lively Bob Wills take on the traditional "Sail Away Ladies." The album's title track is a Harlan Howard penned lyrical gem, originally recorded by Buck Owens. Its followed by Kearns singing his own love song, "Ain't It Almost Like the Old Times" and a wild Cajun romp version of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan." The album is rounded out by Shea's mournful waltz, "Let My Horses Run Free," a title inspired by best-selling Western novelist Larry McMurtry, and Kearn's sprightly aforementioned fiddle medley.

 
"Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns are formidable talents individually, but put them together and the result is magic.
          Ben Elder "Wildwood Flower" /KPFK-FM
 
"Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns are a unique duo, Rick's story songs and his mellow vocals, the amazing fiddling of Brantley, his soaring vocals, the wonderful harmonies-- this is one incredible duo."
          Roz & Howard Larman, Hosts and Producers of "Folkscene"
 
"Rick Shea and Brantley Kearns drive and creativity not only uphold the West Coast country tradition but extend and enhance the sound with genuine artistic credibility. Shea's subtlety as a writer and

vocalist, taken with Kearns' dazzling virtuosity ranks them as one of the very best anywhere."
          Jonny Whiteside, L.A. Weekly