On Saturday, Oct. 17, Charlottesville, Virginia-based musician Alex Caton will perform with clawhammer banjo player Pete Winne at The Shop in downtown Ithaca in support of her latest and second solo album, The Sinners and The Saved.
Caton, a Binghamton native, recently returned from a successful two-week tour on the West Coast, her first trip out west as a touring musician. “We had a great time and our hard work really paid off… We played a lot of house concerts, and sometimes you end up playing to a lot of other musicians,” Caton laughs. “Shows that are almost like a living room session, those are my favorite kind of gigs. It’s a respectful and fun vibe; people are open to new things. I like intimate spaces — we’re certainly not a bar band.”
Anchored by her passionate fiddle playing and sweetly plaintive voice, The Sinners and The Saved features guest appearances from a number of talented area musicians, many of whom play as Caton’s backing old time band. “I had been thinking of recording again, and knew that I wanted The Buvas to play on the record,” Caton recalls. “They were the reason why I got into old time, back when Jed [Greenberg] was in Donna the Buffalo. I’ve known him for 15 years.”
The all-star list of supporting players continues. At her last performance in Ithaca — a duo show with Horse Flies’ banjo player Richie Stearns — Caton played at the now-defunct Lost Dog Lounge. “We hadn’t planned for the show at all, and we hadn’t practiced a lick,” Caton laughs. “But we had this great show together, and afterwards I asked him if he would play on the album. There wasn’t any grand plan to have specific people on the album, it kind of happened as we went along.”
Recorded mostly live at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY as well as at Ithaca’s own Electric Wilburland Studio, Caton aimed for a more organic, live aesthetic. “I like that it’s not a fussy album,” Caton says. “With my first solo album, I didn’t enjoy the process of recording it as much. This time, I wanted to enjoy the process, because it really can be incredible. You grow a lot when you record, and for me, it was huge. I haven’t been singing that long, and I really wanted to feel comfortable with my vocals. With the way most people record today, the vocals are overdubbed, and you’re separated from your bandmates. With this album, I didn’t want to do that.
“Justin [Guip], who helped produce it, said that he wanted it “with fur,’” Caton laughs. “He didn’t want a perfect album. He wanted it to fit the style of the music, and not be super polished. I really trusted his ear… The best compliment that I received on the album was that it sounded like we had fun doing it — and I was like, “Yes, we did.’ It was very open and free, and nothing about it was overproduced. We didn’t want to get too fancy.”
Indeed, the album is a sweet, effortless blend of traditional old time fiddle tunes, bluegrass, piano-driven gospel, ragtime and country tunes, as well as Caton’s own original compositions. “The songs are all wildly different, and the tracks kind of stand on their own a little bit, but the balance is there,” Caton explains. “To me, I feel like I’m a traditional musician, and whether it’s an old time tune, a traditional, or a cover, I think that I approach them all the same way. It’s like, if that song draws me in, I’ll play it.”
Caton picked up the violin when she was five years old, and growing up, she divided her time between living in England, Scotland and the United States. And though her background is more heavily steeped in traditional Irish performance — her mother’s family is Irish — Caton says that her heart was in old time from the beginning. “Coming from playing Irish music, I never felt like I was part of this community of people because I wasn’t in Ireland. I didn’t love the sense of the tight boundaries around it. But with old time — it felt so alive,” Caton says.
Growing up playing traditional Irish fiddle songs and feeling stifled by its geographical limitations, Caton eventually looked to Appalachian folk and old time for inspiration. “I was drawn into old time through the people, through the culture that was going on. It was really addictive. The way people played tunes, the lifestyle that they led — I just wanted to play whatever music it was that they were playing. It’s powerful music and it really spoke to me,” Caton says.
Old time music, a tradition that has long been appreciated for its looseness, conviviality and passionate playing, doesn’t necessarily reward the most virtuostic of players. “The transition from violin to fiddle took a long time for me. It’s kind of looked down upon, too, like you have to explain yourself if you play too well,” Caton explains. “It’s a different feel, and it took me a while to break certain habits and to get a difference essence. It almost feels like, you’re a “true’ old time musician if you don’t have that playing background.” Well, she could’ve fooled us.
Alex Caton will perform at The Shop this Saturday, Oct. 17 at 8:30pm. The Shop is located on 312 E. Seneca St.