siLLy puPPy BILL FRISELL is best known for his role as a jazz guitarist releasing dozens of albums since the early 80s and also incorporating aspects of both American country and folk. He’s also known for the effects he uses to eke out unique sounds of his instruments and one of those musicians who did the whole music college shtick with a large academic padding under his belt.

On his 18th album GHOST TOWN one would be hard-pressed to hear all these creds on board however. On this one we have FRISELL handling all instrumental duties as he strums away on electric and acoustic guitars, a 6-string banjo, bass and some loop effects. This music is slow and twangy with usually one stringed instrument harmonizing with another. It has an old time folk meets country feel from the roots of some early 20th century rural area and the tones of the respective instruments are quite pleasant.

My impression of this album is that it is way too mellow for its own good and that all the tracks start sounding the same after another and what this music reminds me of the most is the kind of soundtrack music that you would hear on one of the PBS documentaries, like the kind of Ken Burns where nice inoffensive music is rolling in the background while a narrator recounts the history of the steam engine or something. Overall i’m left underwhelmed by this one although this would work very well if you want some innocuous soundtrack music for doll making or something.