For the second installation in his Audio Tour Diary series, Dave Pajopresents three more stripped-down tunes, warmly recorded in Chicago,Bloomington and Los Angeles over the past months. The Papa M arranged "Blackis the Color," showcases his tasteful acoustic guitar picking style withdistant swoops of synthesizer for a reworking that makes the tune his own.The airy tone of his laid back vocals are jolted on the way out with astern, spoken delivery of the song's title. From his association withStereolab, the piano and strings-complimented "Mary Was the Kind," paystribute to a dear, departed friend Mary Hansen. The strumming guitar progressionsand catchy lyrics and melody on the traditional sounding "World's GreatestSin" are evident of just how inside the southern folk songwriting style Pajocan get, both musical and lyrically. A hint of accordion-type tones make itall the more convincing. Nested in the last few minutes of the track is anbeautifully uplifting multi-tracked guitar and strings incidentalcomposition which is just perfect as is. It should be interesting to see ifPajo works any of the tunes from his on-the-road sessions into his next fulllength disc, or if this will be the only recorded performances as they havea certain charm of being slightly undressed. Read More
