Review Text
There are a lot of things to love about Emily's newest CD. There's Phil Lancaster's banjo solo in the opening track, 'Banjo Players in Heaven,' possibly one of the deliberately worst banjo solos ever recorded. There's the song with even more Yiddish in it than 'Susie Rosen's Nose' (one of Emily's earlier Jewish-oriented songs), 'Shpilkes,' which not only makes fun of a comment made by Emily's friend Robert Ginsburg, president of the North Arkansas Jazz Society, but actually features him on the recording as himself, along with some other Jewish folks, Susan Shore on vocals & mandolin and Louise Goldberg on accordion (Nathan McLeod, a non-Jewish guy, nonetheless does a great clarinet part, although it's not his main instrument of choice). And then there's 'Ivorybill,' the sad lament co-written by Drew Pierce and featuring him on banjo, about a birdwatcher who just missed snapping a photo of the legendary Ivorybilled Woodpecker. This is a distinctly Arkansas song, as is the tongue-in-cheek a capella dirge 'Dial & Drive' which chronicles the unfortunate demise of a cell-phone user who is driving old scenic Hwy. 71 from Ft. Smith to Fayetteville to catch a Razorback game. Also on the CD is the duet-version of Emily's romantic ballad 'When I'm With You,' sung with Keith Grimwood from Trout Fishing in America and recorded with Trout Fishing's producer Fred Bogert, who plays a lovely trumpet solo. Fred also completely produced the national-anthem-style 'My Petite Sirah' which Emily wrote about one of her favorite wines. The album wraps up with the title cut, sparingly performed by Emily on vocal and Fred Bogert on piano, about leaving a bad party - 'Don't Think It Hasn't Been Fun!' This new CD has 11 songs recorded over a period of about 5 years in as many studios, but all the songs still have that quirky Emily Kaitz signature, even the serious ones.
