P.G. Six: Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites (Amish, Expanded Edition) 2LP

From the one-sheet:

“Amish Records is pleased to finally announce an expanded and remastered edition of P.G. Six’s 2001 debut album, 'Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites', to be released as a gatefold double LP and digitally on Feb 24, 2023. Fully remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, artist Meredyth Sparks reimagines the beautiful Chris Krol cover art in an evocative gatefold design.

An eight-song bonus LP entitled 'Live Cuts and Radio Favorites' will be included. Documenting performances from the calendar year just before and after the release of 'Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites', the bonus album gathers radio and live shows. P.G. Six plays both songs off the debut and the music of others: Pearls Before Swine’s ‘I Saw the World’ (1968) becomes minimalist, approaching modern classical in his repetitive and percussive piano work; X’s ‘Drunk in My Past’ (1983) feels refracted beyond the horizons of Los Angeles punk; Gubler even looks back to his more recent past with ‘Cover Art,’ from the debut album of Tower Recordings; looking forward, the bonus LP also includes versions of songs that would later appear on the album The Well of Memory (2004), which Amish will release in an forthcoming expanded edition.

For the uninitiated, Pat Gubler/P.G. Six’s 'Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites' (2001) opens windows on to many worlds, both new and old: a range of folk music, most notably Irish and British traditions; harp music; solo guitar; intimations of Indian classical; miniature etudes; Progressive rock. Lyrically the songs sound traditional, familiar, intimate, and timeless. Classic originals like ‘The Shepard’ and ‘When I was a Young Man’ exist alongside covers (Anne Briggs ‘Go Your Way’). Mournful and elegiac, the album’s careful sequencing functions as a through line between genres and generations. A genuine student of music (Gubler studied Music Composition at SUNY Purchase under the direction of Dary John Mizelle), traditions lean on one another throughout this album and P.G. Six’s wider artistic vision.

Tim Barnes produces and adds percussion, atmosphere and depth to these songs. Best known as a drummer and the founder of the Quakebasket imprint, Barnes has played internationally with artists ranging from Tony Conrad to Jeph Jerman, Jim O’Rourke to Royal Trucks, Faust to Silver Jews, Wilco to Sonic Youth. Amish released DE∆D-LOOP in 2019, an album that features Tim’s most recent musical voice: wildly experimental dance music.

Pat Gubler currently resides in Copake, New York. One of the founders of Tower Recordings, he continues to release music under the P.G. Six moniker, mostly with Drag City Records. In recent years, he has been a member of Metal Mountains, Garcia Peoples, Weeping Bong Band, Wet Tuna, among other collaborations.”