Music Review: Barbaro, ‘Under the Covers’
The Minnesota neo-bluegrass outfit charms with a quirky benefit EP of covers for a good cause.
Barbaro, Under the Covers album artwork
Every community in the world was turned upside down in 2020, facing shared troubles as well as their own unique challenges. In addition to the pandemic, Minnesota (and especially Minneapolis) unexpectedly had our deeply rooted systemic racism laid bare as we became the epicenter of a worldwide call for racial justice and police reform whose reverberations are still being felt today. And the Minnesota music community was rocked by various events, including the loss of several beloved members of the local music scene.
It was a time of isolation, grief, anger and despair—but it demonstrated the true value of community, and many people felt moved to be there for one another, to find new ways to support and strengthen the fabric that makes a society healthy and more equal.
Minnesota band Barbaro felt that pull, too, and they did something about it. The eclectic group—whether you call them progressive bluegrass, newgrass, neo-bluegrass or Americana, they have a style all their own—brought together a community of artists (mostly but not exclusively bluegrass) to create an EP of covers, all proceeds of which will benefit a Minneapolis nonprofit, Our Saviour’s Community Services. In just four tracks, Barbaro manages to create that feeling of community that’s become so vital—and have a lot of fun that translates to the listening experience too.
Barbaro. Photo credit: Wolfskull Creative.
The idiosyncratic song choices give Under the Covers the feeling of a great night of karaoke—if instead of a tinny synthesized backing track you had some of the best bluegrass musicians in the Midwest playing live and a bar packed with talented professional singers coming up to perform every song. It brings to mind the recent covers-for-a-cause album by Jason Isbell, Blue. While that album brought together mainly Nashville talents in celebration of songs from Georgia, Under the Covers is a gathering of mostly Minnesota musicians for a local nonprofit that pulls double duty as a provider of both emergency housing services and English language instruction.
The EP opens on a lighthearted note with a quirky but very solid cover of Cher’s 1998 megahit “Believe.” No autotune is necessary as Rachel Calvert’s vocals start sweet and slowly build to a belting, growling climax, accompanied by a complex blend of stringed instruments. In addition to Barbaro’s own members—Kyle Shelstad on guitar, Isaac Sammis on banjo, Jason Wells on bass and Calvert playing fiddle—the track also features Tommy Maher of Fireside Collective on dobro, Ernest Brusabardis IV (Chicken Wire Empire) on fiddle, and the late, sorely missed Max Graham of Kind Country playing mandolin.
The next track takes a turn for the melancholy with “Dark Turn of Mind,” Gillian Welch’s sweetly haunting 2011 song from the point of view of a girl scarred by the past but happy in the shadows. Barbaro’s instrumentation—bolstered this time by Adam Roszkiewicz of Front Country on mandolin—gives the tune a much more country/bluegrass feel than the original. The lyrics of this song are mysterious, evocative and (you guessed it) dark, but transcendent guest vocals by experimental folk artist Siri Undlin (who normally performs under the name Humbird) bring it to a place beyond heartbreaking to almost a sense of peace and acceptance. I mean, try to listen to Siri Undlin sing anything and not believe that because her voice exists, there is good in the world. It’s not possible.
The next unexpected twist in this EP takes us back to 1996 with roots rocker Sheryl Crow’s hit “If It Makes You Happy.” Roszkiewicz is back, adding mandolin to Barbaro’s string mix, but this time the guest vocalist is decidedly non-folk or bluegrass: Kaytee Callahan, guitarist and singer for Minnesota punk rock trio Gully Boys. The bluegrass arrangement of this originally drum- and electric-guitar-dominated song highlights the sometimes experimental way Barbaro uses traditional bluegrass instruments and techniques.
Interestingly, the pace feels much faster than Crow’s version, with syncopation and frenetic instrumentation providing a striking contrast to Callahan’s rock vocal delivery. At times the incongruity becomes almost uncomfortable, challenging the ear with seldom-heard combinations and unusual rhythms, but always comes back to a harmonious point. Calvert’s harmonies go surprisingly well with Callahan’s lead vocals—despite how different the two singers’ voices are, together they create a truly pleasing audio texture.
Barbaro. Photo credit: Wolfskull Creative.
If you’re part of the Minnesota community, the final song, Wilco’s 2001 “Jesus, Etc.,” is almost guaranteed to bring a lump to your throat, if it doesn’t reduce you to tears outright. That’s because Graham, a beloved musician we lost to suicide earlier this year, not only provides mandolin but lead vocals on this one. His tender, plaintive-sounding voice delivering the lines “Don't cry / You can rely on me, honey / You can come by any time you want / I'll be around” is almost too much to bear, but I’m so grateful that Barbaro was able to capture this stunning performance from him and share it with the rest of us.
Completely unintentionally, his inclusion on this project brings home even more powerfully the need for community, and it’s so heartwarming that one of his last contributions to music was to benefit an organization devoted to providing shelter and education to help Minnesotans through hard times.
Buy a copy of Under the Covers starting 12:00 a.m. CT on Friday, November 12, 2021, at the link below. All proceeds will go to Our Saviour’s Community Services in Minneapolis.
Carol Roth. Photo credit: Dan Lee.
Carol Roth is a full-time marketing copywriter and the main music journalist and social media publicist for Adventures in Americana. In addition to studying the guitar and songwriting, Carol’s additional creative side hustle is writing self-proclaimed “trashy” novels under the pseudonym @taberkeley!
