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Last year was a difficult one for the neo-bluegrass outfit Cadillac Sky. On a personal level, constant touring took a heavy toll –– some band members were forced to confront painful realities like divorce and addiction. On a professional level, the quintet decided to leave the Skaggs Family Records label, which had released the group’s first two albums, because band members thought the studio recordings didn’t capture the fierce, high-wire musicianship of their live shows. They felt stranded and overwhelmed.

music_1“Life brought us to our knees,” said singer, mandolinist, and Fort Worth native Bryan Simpson about himself, banjo player Matt Menefee, fiddler Ross Holmes, bassist Andy “Panda” Moritz, and guitarist David Mayfield. “God kept putting us into situations where we had to face our humanity and learn to be humble.”

Maybe it’s a tired theme that pain and desperation lead to great music, but there’s a haunted vibe permeating Cadillac Sky’s extraordinary new album. Letters in the Deep suggests the band members wanted to use their private chaos as a launching pad into unexplored musical territory. Produced by singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach of the alt-blues duo The Black Keys, Letters in the Deep consists of 10 songs separated by seven short instrumentals. Played from beginning to end, the album tells a loose, epic narrative of a soul struggling to be free. Ghostly noises from Auerbach’s Akron studio drift through the background. Tunes begin with banjo as the lead instrument only to inexplicably switch mid-way to electric guitar or upright piano and then change tempo altogether. Simple choruses become incantations repeated over and over as if pleading for some kind of divine aid. While songs like “Human Cannonball” and “Hangman” are immediate standouts, the album as a whole is a restless, eerie, occasionally joyous experience that doesn’t really hook listeners as a cohesive work until the second or third spin.

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Simpson agrees that the songs require time and attention from listeners, and he respects fans who are bewildered at the rambling, obsessive nature of the album. Still, he defends Letters in the Deep without hesitation.

“You can’t do anything of consequence without stirring up different opinions,” he said. “Some of our fans have been upfront about the fact that they didn’t ‘get’ [the album], and that’s OK. But people have also said the record made sense after they heard the songs live, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s where it counts.”

He added, “At the core, we made the new record just like The Stanley Brothers would’ve done it in the 1940s: no digital purifying, very few overdubs, just the band playing together with mics in an open studio.”

Last year was more than just a time of artistic reinvention for the band. Cadillac Sky decided to take control of its commercial destiny too. After they left Skaggs Family Records, a couple of major labels flashed some impressive cash to sign them. But Simpson and his bandmates were fearful of donning another creative straitjacket that mandated a strictly traditional bluegrass sound. Instead, they financed the five days in Auerbach’s studio themselves and took Letters in the Deep to the Nashville-based Dualtone Records. The resulting contract means Cadillac Sky owns the rights to the album, while Dualtone takes care of distribution and promotion. Simpson calls it “the new world order” of the music business, and so far he’s quite pleased.

“The record has only been out a month, and we’re already in the black,” he said. “We never saw a dime from our previous label.”

The band will continue to promote the album with live shows for the rest of the year, although their touring schedule is a little more humane now: Two or three weeks on the road will alternate with a week off, so the members can stay connected with family, friends, and “the things that matter to us,” Simpson said. However challenging and obscure Letters in the Deep may be for some listeners, Simpson hopes Cadillac Sky can attract new fans and introduce them to the beautiful whirlwind of Americana and roots music that the group draws upon. Experience has taught him that labeling the kind of music they play is futile.

“Most people in the bluegrass world don’t think of us as a bluegrass band,” he said, “and people outside of that world will probably always say we’re bluegrass. I think God just tells us, ‘Be who you are today.’ ”

 

Cadillac Sky

Thu w/Seryn in the Cambridge Room of House of Blues, 2200 N Lamar St, Dallas. 8pm. $7.50-12. 214-978-2583.

 

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