Asheville, N.C. (February 26, 2025)—American Patchwork Quartet, which recently earned a Grammy nomination in the category Best Folk Album for its debut, self-titled outing, is a breathtaking confluence of heritage roots, jazz and world music influences, all woven together to reimagine the songbook of our traditional folk music story.
On paper, it might seem an unlikely combination of talent to form a quartet, but this patchwork of musicians—Falguni Shah, known as Falu, an 11th-generation traditional Indian vocalist; guitarist/producer Clay Ross, who also founded two-time Grammy-winners Ranky Tanky; drummer/percussionist/associate producer Clarence Penn, a protégé of Ellis Marsalis, raised in the Black churches of Detroit; and Tokyo-born acoustic and electric bassist Yasushi Nakamura, whose vast variety of work has brought him to Jazz at Lincoln Center and the New York City Ballet—delivers a unique selection of songs you will swear you’ve heard before. Bending genres and crossing boundaries, some renditions are closer to their roots; all are stunning.
CULTURAL MASHUP
APQ formed in 2019 through a friendship forged over three years between Falu and Ross while both were teaching at Carnegie Hall and exchanging musical ideas. The first song Ross brought the singer was “Pretty Saro,” which he described as the quintessential immigrant story. Having been an immigrant herself, she related. Then she brought so much more to the table.
The usage of Falu’s Indian classical vocal training in APQ’s version of the 19th century folk ballad “Shenandoah” creates a spiritual, almost Native American quality to the track that can bring a listener to tears. In technical terms, she explains, the first half is a murki, followed by a meend. “All of these ornamentations and microtonal elements that I have added,” she says, “I have thought about how they would enhance the longing in the song.”
Falu discovered the power of music early on. Her mother, a classical musician, would bribe her then two-and-a-half-year-old with food if she completed a music lesson first. Later, while in the hospital at six years old following a bicycle accident, her mother told her to sing instead of scream when in pain. “I started singing in that hospital room, and I didn’t stop,” Falu recalls. “That pain was only bearable when I sang. I realized music is the answer to everything in my life.”
While studying with the most prestigious teachers, Falu never intended on leaving India, but at 21, she fell in love with musician Gaurav Shah, who lived in Texas. Moving to the States, she experienced an early career highlight when she was invited to the White House in 2009 to sing alongside A. R. Rahman at President Obama’s first State Dinner, in honor of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ross, the driving force behind APQ, originally moved to New York to play jazz but got sidetracked by roots and folk music. He brought the other two band members into the fold, believing that their jazz foundations would complete the picture. After a positive public response to a series of four videos, the foursome decided to go ahead and make an album and began pre-production. Ross calls the project his “baby.”
As producer, Ross presented more than 20 potential songs to see which would resonate with the players. He created extensive demos, with guitar orchestrations and percussion layers, to present his concept, and then welcomed “lots of input from the group.”
TRACKING AT ECHO MOUNTAIN
It had been Ross’ dream to record at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, N.C., having hailed from the area and believing the vibe to be simpatico with the project. He enlisted engineer Shani Gandhi after hearing her work on the album Desert Dove by friend Michaela Ann (Neller). Together, they ended up spending seven days at the studio in 2022. Gandhi describes working at Echo Mountain as a “getaway” experience that offers focus. Hanging out in the band house and cooking together, she says, proved unifying.
Gandhi, along with her assistant engineer, Dowel Gandy (who “knows where everything is”), tracked to Pro Tools through a combination of Lynx Aurora and Burl Mothership converters. They tracked live in Room A, a.k.a. the Church, with Falu singing her vocals into a reissue of the Neumann U-67, which went into the Neve 8060 mkII console preamp, into a GML 8200, then into a Fairchild 670 or LA2A, depending on the song. Ross’ signal chain started with a Telefunken 251 mic into the Neve console pre, then to a Fairchild 670.
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The engineer’s biggest challenge, it turned out, was navigating the difference between Falu’s and Ross’s vocal qualities. “It began with doing vocal mic shootouts,” Gandhi explains. “We did the shootouts to voice them at the same time, as opposed to having them—and me—picking their favorite mics for their voice. I also wanted them to think about how it matched with their partner’s voice. Falu has a very soft and rounded tone, and I needed her to be more forward in the mix, so I put her through an LA2A. Clay has quite a growly tone, so I needed him to soften up a bit to match her, so I put him through a Fairchild.”
That made “Pretty Saro” one of the more difficult songs to record, as Ross and Falu had to sing together throughout. “Falu can sing a note for five minutes and hold it there, and Clay has a much shorter cadence,” she notes. “To try to get her to be cognizant of him, and for him to work on his breath support, we tracked them together a few times so they could understand each other’s qualities, and then we separated them. Then it came down to comping to try to find that blend. Their strengths are so different from one another. The marvel of digital technology makes someone sing a note just a hair longer [laughs]; it’s very useful.”
