Award-winning instrumentalist finds his voice.

Byline: Paul Denison The Register-Guard

For several years now, banjo and slide guitar whiz Tony Furtado has been taking baby steps as a singer and songwriter. With his new album, "These Chains," released July 27 on Funzalo Records, he jumps in with both feet.

The album has 13 tracks. Furtado wrote most of the songs, and he sings on every track except one, an instrumental. Two tracks are covers: Waylon Jennings' "Brand New Goodbye Song" and Bob Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings."

Furtado, a former grand national champion banjo picker who slid on over to slide guitar because it was more expressive, has moved gradually from all-instrumental albums to ones on which someone actually sang (such as Allison Krauss on Furtado's 1992 album "Within Reach') and then to ones on which he himself sang (like the traditional "Cypress Grove" on his 2001 album, "Tony Furtado Band').

"These Chains" is the first CD on which Furtado performs songs that he wrote himself.

He sings well enough, varying the style and phrasing to fit each song, but straight-ahead, without much nuance. He's better as a songwriter, and his slide guitar work is better still.

One reviewer noted Furtado's "decent vocal powers," but added that the album "achieves liftoff with every instrumental flourish."

Liftoff is certainly accomplished, especially on "Swayback Jim," a Furtado original. Both the song and the singing are above average, and the guitar work is way above average.

The sole instrumental, "Doc's Bog," may be there as a sop to longtime Furtado fans who could care less whether he sings, but it's a great track. On the other tracks, Furtado's instrumental work serves the songs well, giving them both the drive and the emotional resonance they need and deserve.

Furtado had collaborators on three songs, which may have been help he didn't really need. "Standing in the Rain," which he wrote with Jules Shear, and "Need a Friend," which he wrote with Jim Lauderdale, are two of the least satisfying songs on the album.

"The Prisoner," a country-westernish collaboration with NRBQ guitarist Al Anderson, is one of the better ones, despite its commonplace theme:

"I'm a prisoner of the road, life without parole/ Sometimes I feel like breakin' free, but then I see all the girls with pretty faces smiling back at me/ Will I ever get to know one before it's time to leave?"

`Take a Look' deserves one

If Furtado ever gets to "know one" on the road, it's probably because of his song "Take a Look," a sly, blues come-on that's money-back guaranteed to catch him a girl - or get him stomped into the ground by a red-faced husband, boyfriend or father:

"Come on girl, take a look at me/ You come on over here, I'm gonna set you free/ You say you want a lover who can love you good and love you so long like you know I could. .../ I'm a revved-up hot rod ready to roll/ If you come on over here, you can drive like a pro."

And it gets better.

Furtado can write a nifty good ol' boy drinking song (check out "Good Stuff'), but one of the best tracks on the album is a good ol' horse song, "Swayback Jim." Here's how it starts:

"Poor old lonely Swayback Jim, stands so proud and alone/ The pain from years of tilling soil burns like fire through his bones/ At night when he's safe from laughing eyes, he breaks the stabbing pain/ He moves his bones with all his might across the cold Nebraska plain/ He outstrips the wind with lightning speed, he's tearing up the track."

The most poignant track is "Oh Father Mine," which Furtado wrote after learning that his father had been diagnosed with cancer. The words are nothing special, but Furtado's singing (backed by the neo-folk duo eastmountainsouth) and his guitar work lift it right up where it belongs emotionally:

"How can this world be safe when you're gone?/ Held it up for me with your strength and your charm/ Kept away the boogieman and the ghosts in my head/ How can my father be dead?/ I remember the times I'd look at you and say/ `This man is made of stone, he'll never fade away'/ Those times are gone for good, and a million tears I've shed/ How can my father be dead?/ Oh, father mine, what shall I do?"

The good news is that Furtado's father recovered.

"These Chains" was produced by bassist Dusty Wakeman, who has worked with Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam. Wakeman brought in drummer Jim Christine and guitarist Doug Pettibone from Williams' current band, as well as keyboardist Skip Edwards, percussionist Michael Tempo (Bonedaddies) and backing vocalist Gia Ciambotti (Badly Drawn Boy).

Most of the tracks were recorded live in the studio with a full band. Tonight's McDonald Lounge show will be solo acoustic.

Paul Denison can be reached at 338-2323 or pdenison@ guardnet.com.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Tony Furtado

What: Singer-songwriter, solo acoustic, 21 and over

When: 9 p.m. today

Where: McDonald Theatre Lounge, 1010 Willamette St.

How much: $10

CAPTION(S):

Tony Furtado, long a banjo and guitar whiz, is more lyrical.