Carbon Leaf lives "Life Less Ordinary"

Twelve years ago, Carbon Leaf, a Richmond, Va.-based quintet, first combined two words on the bus ride back from a rafting trip to create a makeshift, then eventually permanent band name. Since then, as lead singer Barry Privett says, they've been a "working band." And through the years and the tours, they've evolved from being a strictly Celtic bluegrass band into, in singer Barry Privett's sparing words, "a rock band."

For years Carbon Leaf focused on college and small venues, but after four self-released albums, breaks started coming. They were voted Coca-Cola's best new artist in 2002 (oddly nine years after they formed) and appeared on the Dr. Phil show recently. They also released Indian Summer, their most mature album yet on Vanguard Records in 2004.

Privett willingly admits their previous work often "didn't have much emotional resonance." But Indian Summer eschews that. It works for a cohesive theme of "trying to find an emotional connection with another person while in your own darkness." Privett describes Summer as "an unseasonably warm summer following an early frost."

The album builds off that image-there is a constant conceit of breaking through the ice: thawing out and really living. Typified in their radio-friendly "Life Less Ordinary," Carbon Leaf begs us not to let life slide away and, titularly, "live a life less ordinary."

A carpe diem attitude underscores Indian Summer. "Dance till you fall/love till you die/shut your mouth" orders Privett on the emotive ballad "Raise the Roof."

Other standouts include a walking bass line and melancholy lyrics on "Let Your Troubles Roll By" that creates a deceptively dark mood; the sorrow is then quickly replaced by the song's infectious chorus: "When all your tears dry, let your troubles roll by." That is the basic formula followed in Indian Summer: the verses create a bleak statement, and the chorus rebukes dwelling on that sorrow.

Indian Summer places Carbon Leaf in the flip-flop rock end of the spectrum: they are like a poetic O.AR.-if, that is, O.A.R. could sing or play instruments. This is a distance from the Celtic bluegrass moniker that still haunts them-mostly due to the presence of mandolin on earlier albums. Carbon Leaf's Celtic influences were always more subtle than described by critics and on Indian Summer they have outgrown the need for any identifying gimmick and have created an "unintentionally more mainstream album." But this mainstream appeal has been discovered on their own terms: Carbon Leaf is still in the process of shedding the inessential in their music for their best, sweet pop center.

Currently touring "about 250 days a year," they lead an exhausting road-bound life, but they are always excited to "keep traveling the country, building new audiences." They have been forging ahead for too long to slow down soon-the Cat's Cradle this Friday is an early stop on their fifth nationwide tour, and they plan to be back in the studio by the winter.

Carbon Leaf rely upon their touring to build an audience: Privett clearly sees their live act as one of their best attributes, and their instant accessibility could easily enthrall even unfamiliar concert-goers.

Carbon Leaf has grown up together. With a bit of luck they will gain the wide spread audience they deserve. "We have definitely not hit the big time" Privett said, with an odd tinge of pride, "we are still very much a working rock band."

 

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