Eli West is our kind of guitar hero: Capable of blistering flatpicking, stunning collaborations (his The Both record is still a favorite on the office stereo), and sensitive songwriting. Added bonus: West is local to us here in the Pacific Northwest, so we get to see nearly all of his various collaborations live, film videos with him and have him perform at our events.
So we’re elated to share a tune from West’s forthcoming album, Tapered Point of Stone. Recorded just before the pandemic in 2020, the album features West playing and singing alongside Andrew Marlin (Mandolin Orange) on mandolin and guitar, Christian Sedelmeyer (Jerry Douglas) on fiddle, and Clint Mullican (Mandolin Orange) on bass.
As for this song? “‘Brick in the Road’ is a definition-in-the-title kind of song,” he reports to us. “I was walking along a really beautiful street in a small Welsh town called Hay on Wye, and was inspired by something as insignificant as a brick to decide which route to take. I tend to overthink things, so keeping it simple felt right. A study of a brick, in the context of a bunch of other bricks. I like that it is such a confined object, blunt, kind of dangerous, but super practical. Independent of the brick, I love the whole Welsh countryside, where there really isn’t ever a straight line on the horizon, but a bunch of arching hills crashing into each other.”
Pre-order Tapered Point of Stone here.
LINKS
eliwest.com
https://www.facebook.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
Photo: Jenny Jimnez
