The Abrams Brothers

Biography

As more and more Disney fledglings and aspiring pop princesses dominate the emerging young artist scene, the focal point in music shifts farther and farther away from the actual music: we see glitter and glamour replace originality and creativity, we see terms like “musicianship” and “virtuoso” become obsolete and we see the profession of performer transform into a mere placeholder for celebrity.

However, with the release of Blue on Brown, The Abrams Brothers – John, 18, James, 15, and cousin Elijah, 18 – will bring the focus back to the music and represent young musicians as they should be: as artists. And what better way to do so than with a tribute album to the folk legends who epitomize the artistry of musical performers?

The 12-track album, the third release from The Abrams Brothers, is one-half Bob Dylan, one-half Arlo Guthrie and one hundred percent The Abrams Brothers. They successfully capture the homegrown, down to earth essence of Dylan and Guthrie, but not without injecting their own personality and putting their own bluegrass gospel twist on the album.

Blue on Brown was produced by Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and producer Chris Brown, who is well known for his longstanding musical partnership with Kate Fenner, former bandmate of now defunct The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, and his work with Tony Scherr, Ani DiFranco and The Barenaked Ladies.

“[The Abrams] are an immensely wonderful and talented family and so steeped in many traditions of music,” said Brown. “It is just so apparent in their work, but also just so full of life and energy that everything inhabits the present tense with them. It’s like they bring tradition to the table all the time, but it’s really living and beautified.”

The Abrams Brothers are fourth-generation musicians and have musical roots reaching back to their great-grandparents. Musical collaborations spanning generations in the Abrams family, be it at hometown performances, in the recording studio or on tour, are practically family tradition.

John and James, who started playing at the ages of 9 and 6, respectively, and Elijah demonstrate mastery over their instruments (John on guitar, mandolin and violin, James on violin and viola, and Elijah on upright bass) and vocal chords, sounding like well-rounded, fully developed veteran musicians.

With as many credits to their name as The Abrams Brothers have, veteran is not far out of reach even at their young ages. In 2005, the Ontario-based group became the youngest Canadians to appear on Nashville’s iconic Grand Ole Opry, where many stars before them, like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and, more recently, Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood, have stood. They have already traveled overseas to play a European music tour in 2006 that took them through four countries and to perform at the 2007 and 2008 Jacob’s Ladder Folk Festival in Israel. In 2006, they received the Daniel Pearl Memorial violin, given to especially gifted young musicians in honor of international journalist and musician Daniel Pearl, who was taken hostage and killed in Pakistan in 2002.

Even Arlo Guthrie, the legend himself, recognized the talent of these two youngsters after he first heard them playing his own songs at one of his shows and thought they were “way too young to be playing that good.”

“I know I will be hearing from The Abrams Brothers for a long time to come,” he said. “Maybe we’ll run into each other again somewhere along the road. That would be good.”

Throughout the album, The Abrams Brothers deftly keep up with Dylan and Guthrie’s fast rhythms and intricate guitar finger-work. They even go a step further, at times adding depth by carrying the melody with a violin instead of a guitar or often producing a fuller sound by using the violin as an accompaniment. The Abrams Brothers also enhance their album by bringing in a full band, including John and James’s father, Brian Abrams, on rhythm guitar and vocals. The recent addition of banjoist Brandon Green as a fourth member of the band adds yet another dynamic to the group.

In Arlo Guthrie’s “Every Hand in the Land,” The Abrams Brothers effortlessly switch from a drawling rhythm to a breakneck tempo during a two-minute instrumental section and then back again, all the while presenting a clean, precise execution of the piece.

One of the greatest departures from the original recordings is the cover of Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody.” The Abrams Brothers kick up the tempo and transform the heavily jazz-tinged track into a bluegrass one, reigning in several other vocalists to create a diverse collage of aphorismic testaments.

They conclude the album with Dylan’s classic, “The Times They are A-Changin’.” They lead into their slowed-down version of the song with a solemn strings arrangement that continues throughout the track, lending the ballad an even softer, more intimate vibe and leaving listeners with a feeling of reverence for Dylan’s powerful words and for The Abrams Brothers’ respectful and skillful rendition.

As Bob Dylan once sang and The Abrams Brothers sing now, “As the present will later be past, the order is rapidly fadin’.” Dylan’s prophecy couldn’t prove to be truer. Welcome to the new order, an order structured according to talent that is here to stay, courtesy of The Abrams Brothers.