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Crit Harmon

Ed Romanoff – Must Have Done Something Right (Video)

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This is a great little video in which Ed Romanoff and his dog mull over all the things that could have hindered their friendship. Somehow, the friendship survives.

I drink all your good whiskey, sprawled out on your couch
I pass out watching wrestling, but you never throw me out
I know just being with me would kind of hurt your pride
Lucky for me you don’t care what people say
I talk too much and I laugh too loud
I know you hate it when I leave…

Recorded and mixed by Matt Beaudoin, and produced by Crit Harmon. Must Have Done Something Right is from Ed Romanoff’s eponymous 2012 debut.

Meg Hutchinson – Hard to Change (Video)

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Hard to Change came out on Meg’s 2010 release (her second for the Red House Painters label), The Living Side.” Produced by Crit Harmon, and engineered and mixed by Jon Lupfer, this lush album has an outstanding band. Kevin Barry on guitar, Jeff Berlin on drums, Richard Gates on bass, and Brad Hatfield arranging strings and playing the organ. (There are actually even more musicians than we just mentioned, but just trust us they’re outstanding, ok?)

 

Susan Werner – Classics

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Susan Werner came to Q with producer Crit Harmon in 2009 and recorded a great batch of songs. What was unusual about them are the arrangements and the performances. Following is an excerpt form an interview with NPR’s Weekend Edition:

Now, Susan Werner has taken pop songs by others and written chamber music settings for them. Cat Steven’s “The Wind” is given a Bach-esque treatment. Bob Marley’s “Waiting In Vain” rings with echoes of Erik Satie. Stevie Wonder gets mashed up with Chopin-inspired arrangements. Seven other such tracks appear on her new album Classics.

“We chose songs that had a certain lyrical elegance to them, and a certain structural formality,” Werner says. “That is most beautifully revealed when you strip it down to its very basic elements. And there’s no hiding behind a string quartet.”

In an interview with host Liane Hansen, Werner said that she chose songs that had lyrical weight and thoughtfulness to them, such that the music would be taken seriously.

“It’s so easy, when you get near classical music, to do something funny,” she says. “I mean, once you think about the Bugs Bunny cartoons, oh my God, right? You have to be careful not to do something that has everybody in stitches.”

Here’s Susan’s version of Hazy Shade of Winter: