STEVE GILLETTE and CINDY MANGSEN
Berrymania
Compass Rose

www.compassrosemusic.com
 

Marvelous vocalists and acoustic multi-instrumentalists Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have spent a lot of time driving around the country for the last two decades or so and as the latter comments in her brief liners, “Like all couples, we’ve developed a shorthand language – ours mostly consists of phrases from Lou and Peter Berryman songs.” The Madison, Wisconsin-based Berrymans are fellow folk singers and songwriters who also travel extensively, performing their frequently zanily funny observations about the human condition. This tribute project of sorts features 14 of their wittiest creations delivered by the equally spirited duo of Gillette and Mangsen, at times accompanied by the likes of multi-instrumentalists Pete Sutherland, Peter Davis and John Kirk, oboist Jennifer Weeks, cellist Nathaniel Parker and double bassist Scott Petito. Favorites around my house include a philosophical effort about getting old titled “Now Everything Does,” the Tom Lehrer-flavored “Red Kimono,” a topical commentary called “The Family Car” and the almost too-clever “Your State’s Name Here.” A small spot of sanity in this crazy world.

— Gary von Tersch