For the renowned jazz bassist Charlie Haden, his new country album “Rambling Boy" (Decca) isn't a departure. It's a return to the music of his youth. Long before he played alongside Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and others, he was Cowboy Charlie, who first appeared at age 2 on his parents' country-music radio show “Uncle Carl Haden and the Haden Family." On the new disc, a clip from the show features 2-year-old Cowboy Charlie singing and yodeling, with gentle prodding from his dad.
For “Rambling Boy," which includes references obvious and obscure to his childhood influences, the 71-year-old Mr. Haden is united with another generation of the Haden Family: his triplets, Rachel, Petra and Tanya; son, Josh; and wife, Ruth Cameron. They're bolstered by an impressive collection of friends, including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mark Fain, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Bryan Sutton -- surely the country equivalent of the jazz musicians with whom Mr. Haden usually keeps company.
Rosanne Cash sings “The Wildwood Flower," a song popularized by Maybelle Carter, a frequent visitor to the Haden family home in Springfield, Mo., back in the 1940s. Dan Tyminski -- who provided the singing voice to George Clooney's character in the Coen Brothers' film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?" -- is onboard, as is pop's Elvis Costello and Bruce Hornsby. Mr. Metheny, with whom Mr. Haden collaborated in 1996 on the lovely “Beyond the Missouri Sky," plays guitar on, and helped arrange, many of the tunes on the new album.
For “Rambling Boy," which includes references obvious and obscure to his childhood influences, the 71-year-old Mr. Haden is united with another generation of the Haden Family: his triplets, Rachel, Petra and Tanya; son, Josh; and wife, Ruth Cameron. They're bolstered by an impressive collection of friends, including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mark Fain, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Bryan Sutton -- surely the country equivalent of the jazz musicians with whom Mr. Haden usually keeps company.
Rosanne Cash sings “The Wildwood Flower," a song popularized by Maybelle Carter, a frequent visitor to the Haden family home in Springfield, Mo., back in the 1940s. Dan Tyminski -- who provided the singing voice to George Clooney's character in the Coen Brothers' film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?" -- is onboard, as is pop's Elvis Costello and Bruce Hornsby. Mr. Metheny, with whom Mr. Haden collaborated in 1996 on the lovely “Beyond the Missouri Sky," plays guitar on, and helped arrange, many of the tunes on the new album.
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