Beyman Bros: The Thinking Person's Americana
Actor and filmmaker Christopher Guest is probably best known for his role as lead singer Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
But he's always been a serious musician. Now, for the first time in his career, Guest is sharing that side of his personality. He and some longtime friends calling themselves The Beyman Bros have just released their first CD, Memories of Summer as a Child.
Spend a few minutes inside the intricate, placid music of The Beyman Bros, and it's clear that Guest is serious about music. Of course he had to be at least a decent musician to pull off Spinal Tap and the spot-on satires of old folk music in the 2003 parody A Mighty Wind. But the music of The Beyman Bros suggests he's more accomplished than that. Just listen to the way Guest and his longtime collaborator, guitarist David Nichtern, interact: It's as if they're flying in formation.
Guest plays guitar and mandolin, mandolin cello, and even the clarinet. The Beyman Bros' members have been playing together informally for years, mostly in Guest's kitchen. Nichtern says that when they began to work on the new album, they started with simple rhythm-guitar ideas. Once they arrived at an intriguing mood, they'd go off exploring.
Those collaborative journeys led The Beyman Bros to a striking, spacious sound: instrumentals that exude the placid calm of meditation music, but also carry flashes of rock-guitar brilliance, late-night swamp blues and the carefully knit tapestries of bluegrass. It's thinking person's Americana — lovely and low-key and enchanting, and nothing you'd expect from the guy who gave the world guitar amps that go up to 11.
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
Actor and screenwriter Christopher Guest is best known for his mockumentaries, including "Best in Show" and "This Is Spinal Tap."
(Soundbite of movie, "This Is Spinal Tap")
Mr. MICHAEL MCKEAN (Actor): (as David St. Hubbins) (Singing) Stonehenge! Tis a magic place where the moon doth rise with a dragon's face. Stonehenge…
BLOCK: But music is more than a joke for Christopher Guest. And he's got a new CD of instrumental music to prove it. Guest and several longtime friends call themselves The Beyman Bros. Their CD is called "Memories of Summer as a Child." Tom Moon has this review.
(Soundbite of music)
TOM MOON: It doesn't take long, with the intricate, placid sounds of The Beyman Bros, to realize that Christopher Guest is serious about music.
(Soundbite of music)
MOON: Of course, Guest had to be at least a decent musician to pull off "Spinal Tap" and the spot-on satires of old folkies in the 2003 parody "A Mighty Wind." But the music of The Beyman Bros suggests he's more accomplished than that. Listen to the way Guest and his longtime collaborator, guitarist David Nichtern, interact here.
(Soundbite of music)
MOON: Guest plays guitar and mandolin, mandolin cello and even the clarinet. He and the two other multi-instrumentalists of The Beyman Bros have been playing together informally for years, mostly in Guest's kitchen. Nichtern says that the songs on this album started as simple rhythm-guitar jams. When they'd land on an intriguing mood, they'd seize it and build a song around it.
(Soundbite of music)
MOON: The collaborative explorations led The Beyman Bros to a spacious sound. These instrumentals have the calm of meditation music. But they also carry flashes of rock-guitar brilliance and late-night swamp blues, and the carefully knit tapestries of bluegrass.
(Soundbite of music)
MOON: It's thinking person's Americana - low-key and lovely. And nothing you'd expect from the guy who gave the world guitar amps that go up to 11.
(Soundbite of music)
BLOCK: Our critic is Tom Moon, author of the book "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die." The new CD from The Beyman Bros is called "Memories of Summer as a Child." You can hear tracks from it, and watch a video of The Beyman Bros, at nprmusic.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
