Rvng Int'l US Vinyl & CDs

Review: A beautiful exploration in Americana, string music and all the emotion that can possibly be wrung from their intersection, Ernest Hood's Back To The Woodlands was recorded in a 10-year period in Western Oregon, beginning with Reagan and ending with Carter; 1972-1982. Hood has gone down in folk music history as a mastermind of the chordophone, a unique experimenter in such hammer-struck string instruments such as the zither, the psaltery and the good ole' guitar (and really, if you look into the history of string instruments, one could argue they're all just zithers). Never before released, this is an extraordinarily emotional album melding the artist's use of field recordings, synths, zither flourishes and guitar harmonies, producing a mini-revolution in sound that expresses the many new possibilities opened up not only by being differently abled, but also awe-inspired by the world around you.