Jerron Paxton's blues and Chloe Kim's basses

Jerron Paxton’s music sounds like it could have been unearthed from a time capsule buried in the 1920s or 30s. His new album of original songs, Things Done Changed, finds the multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, banjo, piano and harmonica across blues, folk, ragtime and old-time Black music styles. He tells Andy about being glued to the radio as a young child, his deep love of acoustic instruments, and the recipe for his grandmother’s salmon court bouillon.

Chloe Kim has been on The Music Show in the past in her capacity as a drummer, but this time she’s on as a sort of wrangler (and composer) for six double basses. One of the six, Jacques Emery, joins her to tell Andy about the premiere of Music For Six Double Bassists at Sydney’s Phoenix Central Park – and how this quiet, oddly fragile big beast of the orchestra can operate amongst its own kind. 

Music heard in the show: 

Title: Music for Six Double BassistsComposer: Chloe KimArtist: Paddy Fitzgerald (double bass), Oscar Neyland (double bass), Helen Svoboda (double bass), Harry Birch (double bass), Jonathan Zwartz (double bass), and Jacques Emery (double bass)Album: Music For Six Double BassistsLabel: People Sound

Title: What’s Gonna Become of MeComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian Folkways

Title: Things Done ChangedComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian Folkways

Title: Little ZydecoComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian Folkways

Title: Oxtail BluesComposer: Jerron PaxtonArtist: Jerron PaxtonAlbum: Things Done ChangedLabel: Smithsonian Folkways

Title: Music for Six Double BassistsComposer: Chloe KimArtist: Paddy Fitzgerald (double bass), Oscar Neyland (double bass), Helen Svoboda (double bass), Harry Birch (double bass), Jonathan Zwartz (double bass), and Jacques Emery (double bass)Album: Music For Six Double BassistsRecorded by Felix Abrahams and Nathan Moas, Audio courtesy of Phoenix Central Park and Judith Neilson AM

Title: EclipseArtist: Alter BoyAlbum: I Don’t Live Here AnymoreLabel: Independent release

The Music Show was produced this week on Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land. Engineers were Tim Jenkins, Simon Branthwaite, John Jacobs and Brendan O'Neill.