Sky in the Road - Reviews

Sky in the Road: They will take us there
Victory Review, Seattle, Washington
By Bill Fisher

Sky in the Road is an ever-changing project, with new ideas and influences and musicians constantly thrown into the mix. But at its heart, always, is the spirit and enormous talent of Dan Rhiger and Rahmana (pronounced Rock-MAH-nah) Wiest. Nowadays, multi-instrumentalist Dean Warner is also at the core of the on-going Sky in the Road experience.

A band that is utterly engaging in live performance, their output really hasn¹t been adequately documented in recordings

They have recently released two CDs, though

Okay, let me pause here. It¹s likely that a large proportion of this article¹s readers has never before heard of Sky in the Road. Why?

For one thing, this is a Portland band

For yet another thing, there is a constant spiritual theme that runs through the music

As you can begin to sense, the most unusual and exquisite aspects of this band¹s restless, searching, moving music can hang like an albatross around their necks. Their strengths, their lack of obvious categories, both make them great and deny them all too many hearings.

Sky in the Road combines bluegrass, pop, singer-songwriter folk, chant, world music touches and simmering passion in all their music. Dan writes contagious songs that very frequently use phrases from the Persian poet Rumi as the foundation for his lyrics. ³Out Beyond,² from the 1995 CD, begins: ³Out beyond ideas of right and wrong,/There is a field. I¹ll meet you there,² building the musical content of the song on a traditional Scottish melody. So you have the sense of an ancient Persian poem relayed through Celtic music, all of it building to remarkable crescendos that wash over the listener with intense emotion.

Dan plays a wide variety of stringed instruments as well as piano and synths, and even the medicine whistle. His voice has a way of quietly working its way inside of you, providing just the right amount of emotion for each song. And his voice, when partnered with Rahmana¹s powerful soprano, blends as if he were born to sing with her.

Rahmana plays harmonium, bringing an unexpected richness to many songs, often in unexpected places, and frequently adds percussive accents. Hers is a rich, sweet, wild, flexible and well-trained vocal instrument. If Dan has Celtic music in his soul, Rahmana is full of passionate gypsy leanings, but her voice can sound like the angel sent to awaken us or like the demon goddess sent to invite us to the earth¹s ancient dances. She writes and co-authors the many of the group¹s songs.

Dean Warner also contributes songs, as mentioned earlier, and is the kind of guy who can be relied on for great lead and harmony vocals and for infectious fills and solos on mandolin and guitar. He also contributes the artwork for the CDs.

Other musicians join the trio on the new CD, Where Everything is Music

You¹ll find dulcimer, dumbek, pennywhistle and exotic percussion weaving through these songs. You¹ll hear celebrations of the earth and all creation (³Singing Down Glory²), catchy love hymns, a choir from the Northwest Sufi Camp, superb contrapuntal vocal arrangements. It¹s a constantly shifting rainbow of sound.

Any complaints? No. This reviewer isn¹t keen on synths, but hey, shut up

So we turn to Dean¹s CD, Tahonetlaclah. Mountain of Fire, and bring the guitar and mandolin up in the mix, add a banjo and didgeridoo (unless my ears are fooling me) and remain in a realm that is at once folkier and also clearly grounded in an environmentalist¹s perspective. Dean¹s music and viewpoint fold perfectly into the Sky in the Road mix.

Sadly, the CD¹s liner notes are nearly non-existent, so we know little about the personnel or the genesis of the songs. Here¹s what we know The CD was released in 2003. Dean did the cover art. And the project, like the 2005 Where Everything is Music, was recorded at medicine whistle studios, which Dan Rhiger owns and runs.

Technically, Tahonetlaclah is an EP, a 6-song cycle of folk styles. ³The Dance of the Trees² is a kick-drum-driven myth-making song<³We are the ancients of this world²

Tahonetlaclah is the sort of CD you¹ll find yourself reaching for in the midst of road trips, on the way to folk festivals, during the morning wake-up hours. Where Everything is Music is the sort of CD you¹ll want to study again and again, digesting the creative musical (and, indeed, spiritual) ideas that went into the mix. It is one of the finest CDs of the decade for this reviewer¹s money.

And Sky in the Road is a band you will want to see whenever and wherever possible. There is no one quite like them. Few bands satisfy so completely.

Bill Fisher, a writer residing in Olympia with Robyn, a full-time teacher and his life- and music-partner, can be contacted at bill@cco.net. Their CDs are available at CDBaby, and bits of woefully out-of-date info can be found at www.billandrobyn.com.

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