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Spencer Lewis wins The Times Argus Tammie

By Art Edelstein Arts Correspondent - Published: December 12, 2008

As 2008 draws to a close it is time once again to reward a Tammie (Times Argus Music Award) to those Vermont artists who produced the best of the best in terms of albums. This year there were 19 CDs to review.

Best instrumental album

This year several instrumental albums were reviewed including three jazz-based and one neo-traditional/new age album. We're going to share the award in this category.

Spencer Lewis wins for his album "Up on the Mountain" featuring his violin and guitar work and the cello of Nathaniel Parke. In 2008 Lewis, from Bethel, celebrated his 20th year in the recording business. He has 19 CDs out, a prodigious number for a musician whose performance schedule is fairly slim and limited primarily to Vermont and often only at craft fairs.

Lewis' instrumental work includes simple major-key melodies, which he records on violin overdubbing many tracks. His guitar becomes the rhythmic underpinning for the music, but also plays an essential part in his musical landscape. This approach gives Lewis' recordings a string quartet feel. His music has a lushness of sound, and also a dreamy haziness to the content.

"Up on the Mountain" added a lovely cello component to his presentation. As such, this CD represents Lewis' most extensive explo-ration of the sound of bowed strings against flat-picked guitar. It is a pretty and contemplative CD, one that is full when heard through speakers and even more complicated through headphones as the many parts can be discerned more easily.

This is an excerpt from the article published December 12, 2008.