#daggomit!

Song Review: Max Wareham - “The Black & Gold”

The best way to immortalize one’s favorite sports team in song without resorting to cornball cliché is to take the instrumental route, as Max Wareham did on his paean to the Boston Bruins.

“The Black & Gold” finds the banjoist trading riffs with mandolinist Chris Henry, fiddler Laura Orshaw and Punch Brothers guitarist Chris Eldridge while bassist Mike Bub and drummer Larry Atamanuik keep the song moving at a rapid, slap-shot-appropriate pace.

The track comes from Wareham’s Peter Rowan-produced debut, DAGGOMIT!, arriving Feb. 21.

And while ice hockey and bluegrass might seem an incongruous pairing, Wareham hears things differently.

“For the perfect balance of grace and power, drive and agility, bluegrass and hockey are two peas in a pod,” he said in a statement.

Based on “The Black & Gold,” he may be correct.

Grade card: Max Wareham - “The Black & Gold” - A

Album Review: Max Wareham - DAGGOMIT!

He’s long worked for Peter Rowan. Now, Rowan’s working for Max Wareham and with his boss in the producer’s chair, banjoist Wareham makes a smooth transition from sideman to bandleader on his solo debut, DAGGOMIT!

Dominated by instrumentals, the LP is covered in Rowan’s fingerprints, both in the swing and jazz music threads woven into its bluegrass tapestry and in Rowan’s vocal turns on the original “Gone, Baby Gone” and on Charles E. Moody’s 1930s gospel, “Drifting too Far from the Shore.”

Though it’s as much a collaborative album as a solo work, DAGGOMIT! is nevertheless an auspicious coming-out party, adroitly showcasing Wareham’s prowess on banjo; his potential to carve out a niche for himself as a practitioner of instrumental bluegrass music; and the confidence he’s drawn from not only Rowan but a core group of support players and singers.

The band features guitarists Chris Eldridge and David Grier, mandolinist Chris Henry, bassist Mike Bub, snare drummer Larry Atamanuik and fiddler Laura Orshaw, who sings “That’s Just Part of It.” Within and over them, Wareham shines on his chosen instrument, whether giving wordless praise in a new arrangement of “Walking in Jerusalem,” paying sonic tribute to the Boston Bruins on the fast-paced instrumental “The Black & Gold” or making “Heartaches” sound positively giddy.

The only question is whether Wareham would’ve make such a quality album without all the help. But, daggomit, DAGGOMIT! is without question a quality album.

Grade card: Max Wareham - DAGGOMIT! - B