Nomadic guitarist gets his gypsy on

Eric McFadden plays funk, flamenco and everything between

By John Chandler

The Portland Tribune, Dec 12, 2003, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Anyone seen a gypsy lately? A wandering fortuneteller perhaps, like the old lady who informs Lon Chaney that he’ll soon have a terminal case of five o’clock shadow? Most likely, not.

However, if by “gypsy” we mean someone with a decidedly itinerant lifestyle who displays uncanny musical ability, we should allow guitarist Eric McFadden into that vagabond fraternity.

“I love Europe, carnivals, circus freaks, gypsies,” McFadden says. “Clowns, too. The world forgives a clown.” McFadden also cites Zippy the Pinhead as a prime lyrical inspiration.

McFadden, when he’s not out on the road with his own group or with George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, splits his time between Portland and San Francisco.

“I moved some things to Portland in October of last year,” McFadden says by phone from his San Francisco dwelling. “I’m on the road most of the time, so I really haven’t seen too much of Portland. It’s a nice place to hang out when I get a chance. There seem to be a lot of enthusiastic patrons of the arts there.

“And they’re open to different things, which is good for me because I’m an advocate of diversity; I play a lot of different kinds of music.”

To say the least. The past year has seen the release of a pair of McFadden albums on the Window label from San Francisco. “Devil Moon” is largely a solo outing, with McFadden singing and playing his nylon-string guitar. Here, he nimbly slices and dices up flamenco, blues, folk and gypsy-jazz elements into 10 sizzling selections. From the sorrowful “Don’t Make Me Explain,” to the elegant “Rio de Lagrimas,” McFadden whips through genres and ethnic styles with enviable ease, always bringing out something new and unexpected.

His second record of 2003, “Diamonds to Coal,” is attributed to the Eric McFadden Trio, a group that includes bassist James Whiton and drummer Jeff Anthony.

“We play everything,” McFadden says, “though it’s really a rock band. It’s hard to pin it down, because those guys are so good.”

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