Paul Burch - Meridian Rising (2016)

'Blue Yodeler' Jimmie Rodgers was arguably one of the most important people in country music history his other nickname is, after all, 'The Father Of Country Music'. On his upcoming album Meridian Rising , roots musician Paul Burch (loosely) tells the story of Rodgers life, delving into how he imagines the Yodeler might have felt at various points throughout his all-too-brief career.

'Meridian Rising'shares a lot with Loudon Wainwright's Grammy-winning Charlie Poole Project and Guy Davis's performance as Robert Johnson in the Broadway musical 'Trick the Devil'. It goes into the bones of its subject while remaining joyful at the mere fact that this music and Rodgers's story exists to be explored. With collaborators like Jon Langford of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers, Billy Bragg, Gary Tallent of the E Street Band, and fiddling Nashville treasure Fats Kaplin, Burch creates a rich environment through which his Jimmie Rodgers freely wanders, speaking in ways that jump the decades lost.

For more than two decades, Paul Burch has combined an indie rock ethos with a personal vision of roots music that has attracted a mix of equally ineffable collaborators including Lambchop, Mark Knopfler, Vic Chesnutt, Candi Staton, the Waco Brothers, and Ralph Stanley.