There are two kinds of musician:
1) Those who need to spend years alone in their bedrooms noodling on one instrument just to be able to average/above-average at their craft, and
1) Those who need to spend years alone in their bedrooms noodling on one instrument just to be able to average/above-average at their craft, and
2) Those who are intuitively able to coax beautiful, soulful, joyful voices out of anything they touch.
Daniel Lanois, by my calculations, would fall very squarely in that second category. He is the sort of musician most other musicians wished they'd had the guts to be because, in addition to being a natural-born multi-instrumentalist, he also chose the musical path less traveled. More accurately, his path took the scenic route and, for that, our ears remain forever thankful.
What I love about the man most is illustrated in the above performance clip. Obviously, if someone came up to you and said "Hey wanna go see Daniel Lanois?", you'd imagine an intimate venue full of hipsters and Lanois on guitar, right? Gasp, it might even be acoustic!
Wrong.
With truly inspiring support from drummer Brian Blade and bassist Jim Wilson, Lanois weaves a mesmerizing textural tapestry that makes us forget all about the fact that nobody's singing!.
And suddenly you start to see why he and Brian Eno, whose greatness we discussed earlier this week, make such a wonderful team.
Lanois, of course, is what happens when respect for tradition, innovation (not to be confused with technology), and spontaneity are paid equal respect.
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daniel lanois