PORT TOWNSEND — Robert Force has been there and done that in the world of folk music. He’s known for his quest “for the wild dulcimer.” But until recently, he thought he was finished making albums.
He was still writing songs and performing them, but the recording process wasn’t something he wanted to try again.
After repeated requests for take-home versions of songs like “Did You” and “Andy Mackie Sunshine,” though, he relented, and the result is the newly released “Did You” on his own Blaine Street label.
“Some of the songs date back 12 years,” Force said. “I’m not a prolific songwriter, but I can play with anyone.”
The 16 songs on the CD are a combination of Force originals and reinterpreted traditionals.
“These songs are about the people in my life, with a couple of hymns thrown in,” he said. “This is the music that has sustained and defined me. The point is to reflect the culture of which I am a part.”
This is a true solo act, as Force is the only musician. The CD was made almost entirely live in the studio, with a few slight corrections.
While the songs vary in age, they were all polished to a sheen during what he calls a “wood-shedding” session in Mexico over the winter. Force was in Ixtapa on a job that required performing every night, while leaving the days free.
It was hot, too hot to do anything but go back to his room and play the songs, until he reached a point of “tactile response,” where the performance is nearly automatic.
Once Force learns the songs, he adds the different voicings that give them personality. They are never played the same way twice.
“I never get sick of playing any song that I have ever written,” he said. “They are like my children. And I am always glad to see my children, although they are a little bit different every time.”
In this music, nothing is permanent. The versions on the album offer one likeness of the song, while in performance, there is another iteration.
It took five days to record the album in a Port Townsend studio, after which time, Force took it on the road to listen to it several times a day. After
awhile, he learned every nuance of the performance and made notes, replacing a pop here and a click there.
“Just because it is ‘live’ doesn’t mean that you can’t do some cleaning up,” he said.
Force, 65, can be seen around Port Townsend for months at a time, playing petanque — “a kind of French bocce ball” — at the Pourhouse Pub, or helping his wife, Janette Force, with her work as executive director of the Port Townsend Film Festival. Then he goes out traveling for a short spell.
As he gets older, the road sojourns are fewer and farther between.
“There are other things besides music that I want to do with my life,” he said.
“I dedicated 25 or 30 years of my life to being on the road as an itinerant musician, going from place to place. Some people say music is a calling,” Force added. “For me, it was an obsession. I had to do it.
“Now, I have grandkids,” seven of them, “a family, petanque to play, and music isn’t 100 percent of my life as it used to be.”
Force still goes on the road, earning the supplemental income that covers some of his travel costs. He admits, though, that “touring isn’t cost-effective. And it’s probably not environmentally responsible.”
Still, he’s customized the touring experience to fit his preferences.
“It is just like a real business,” Force said. “You sign a contract, they give you money, you get on a plane and go to the gig. They put you up in a hotel. They pay some guy to run the sound system, you sing your songs, sign a few albums and then fly home.
“It would be a living if I did it 150 days a year. Right now, it just pays for itself. But the more I did, the more I would need, and pretty soon, I’d be working more just to pay for the things I need on the road, like a tour bus or a better hotel.”
The dulcimer, which traditionally has three strings — two of them often tuned to the same note — predates the guitar. It is, according to Force, one of two instruments indigenous to the United States — the other being the five-string banjo.
While downplaying his own importance, Force has been involved in several innovative ventures before they became popular or well-known.
The first album, “The Pacific Rim Dulcimer Project,” featured six musicians in a sample format that was often used to present new musical styles.
A subsequent album, “Crossover,” melded the dulcimer with other forms, such as jazz, blues and Caribbean music, among others.
Force and Albert d’Ossche also published two instructional books for the dulcimer.
In parallel to his own performing career, Force produced several albums by his contemporaries.
One of these, “Duets” by Michael Rugg, predated the modern template of a single artist hosting several others for duet performances.
In 2010, Force released “The Complete Recordings,” which contained six albums Force recorded with d’Ossche between 1978 and 1988, along with “Manitou: In the Garden of the Gods,” an instrumental album recorded live in a Colorado canyon that featured dulcimer-driven performances by Force and five of his contemporaries.
“Did You” is varied and personal. “Andy Mackie Sunshine” tells the story of the late harmonica wizard in ballad form, then segues into a somber reading of “You Are My Sunshine.” “Amazing Grace” has notes weighted differently than in other versions.
The album ends with “Cistern 138 in D,” a seven-minute meditation on three strings tuned identically. A single passage is repeated and “rolled” together, to soothing effect. Force plans to keep taking short tours, including one to Portland, Ore., this month, and will roll out the album locally at a performance that is yet to be scheduled.
“These songs are my heart and soul,” he said. “I got into this so I can define the experiences that make sense to me.
“As a songwriter, your job is to walk along the abyss and look over and say, ‘This is what I’m seeing.’ The challenge is to not jump off.”
“Did You” is available at Quimper Sound, 230 Taylor St., from www.RobertForce.com or from CD Baby at www.cdbaby.com/cd/robertforce.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
