Further In (CD - 1996)

Personnel: Greg Brown (vocals, acoustic guitar); Kate MacKenzie (vocals); Dean Magraw (acoustic guitar); Kelly Joe Phelps (lap slide guitar); Bo Ramsey (National Reso-electric & electric guitars); Randy Sabien (violin, mandolin); Gordy Johnson (bass); Boford, Pork Chop.

Recorded at Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota.

Personnel: Greg Brown (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Kate MacKenzie (vocals); Kelly Joe Phelps (guitar); Dean Magraw (acoustic guitar); Bo Ramsey (electric guitar); Randy Sabien (mandolin, violin).

Audio Mixer: Tom Tucker.

Recording information: Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, MN.

Photographers: Irene Young; Chris Strother; Daniel Corrigan; Bob Feldman.

Greg Brown plays a unique brand of folk, with an acoustic guitar backed by slide and electric guitars, violin and mandolin. His influences run from blues to jazz and rock, and his songwriting is sharp and detailed. On FURTHER IN, he softens his biting irony and cynicism; he hasn't gone stickily sentimental, but he is at his most romantic and optimistic here. While part of Brown's talent is for revealing the magic in ordinary situations, he is also a master at moving between the universal and the deeply personal, as in "Where is Maria": "Our foolish government/Tries to save face/While the whole world struggles/To become one bland place/But where is Maria?" minimize