Second Avenue Square Dance

Second Avenue Square Dance is the second CD on Traditional Crossroads by Margot Leverett & the Klezmer Mountain Boys (Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, Kenny Kosek on violin, Marty Confurius on bass and Joe Selly on guitar.) It features guest appearances by Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka (mentor of Bela Fleck and founding member of Psychograss) and a host of others, including Appalachian legend Hazel Dickens. The album is an ambitious, 18-song mongrel mix, not only of klezmer and bluegrass, but also of jazz, folk, blues, and even tango. When it works, which is most of the time, Leverett’s efforts capture the epic joy and profound tribulations both of the Jewish diaspora and the experience of European immigrants (especially from Scotland and Ireland) in the US.

‘Farmer’s Market,’ a superbly rendered hootenanny-cum-bar mitzvah tune, hits all the right notes on clarinet, acoustic guitar and five-string fiddle, the latter courtesy of the extraordinarily gifted Darol Anger (Turtle Island String Quartet). A Tex Logan composition, ‘Come Along Jody,’ also strikes the perfect multi-genre pitch, especially during the jam section. Kaukonen’s presence is a mixed blessing. In ‘Electric Kugel’, Everett expertly counterpoints the guitarist’s old school acid-tinged riffs with laughing-style klezmerisms. This strangely affecting lament serves as the lead-in to the title track where, disappointingly, Kaukonen’s edgy carving sounds more gimmicky than complementary But despite these minor stumbles, Second Avenue Square Dance is a satisfyingly executed mash-up that more than does justice to its extended parentage.