CD Review: White Salmon's Richard & Tova Tillinghast provide 'Random Perfect Plan'

Random Perfect Plan

A new CD of music from Gorge musicians Richard & Tova Tillinghast emerges from the tumultuous year of 2020.

Genre: Country & Folk, 46 min.

 By Jim Drake

Out of the chaos of 2020 comes the acoustic calm of guitar and cello highlighting 13 original songs from Richard and Tova Tillinghast’s latest CD, “Random Perfect Plan.”

Thanks to the use of modern technology, I can tell you that Tillinghast’s music now occupies just over four hours - a total of 67 songs - in my music library. 

Evolving from his electric folk-rock days of the late 1990s, Tillinghast brings the same complex lyrical energy to a subtler acoustic sound that he’s gravitated toward as evidenced by several albums released here in the Gorge. 

His collaborations with percussionist Jason Russ in the band Onehum (2005) and his marriage to his musical partner Tova in 2011 has made the Tillinghasts a familiar name in musical circles here in the Gorge and in the Northwest.

Richard Tillinghast

Courtesy Blue Ackerman Photography

The home he’s created for his family is a basecamp of sorts for his musical inspirations and his songs seem to embody the scenic surroundings of his current home, a few miles north of White Salmon, Wash. A video for the title track features the couple playing on the porch much like you would see them at a local performance.

 Affected like all other folks in a Pandemic world, the video, released in April of last year, was created as a way to stay in touch with the music community, in lieu of cancelled promotional public performances.

“Random Perfect Plan” features Richard Tillinghast (guitars, vocals, ukulele) and Tova Tillinghast (cello, vocals, fiddle and accordion). There’s additional help from Jason Russ (percussion); Adam Schneider (trombone); Tim Ortlieb (drums); John Cochrane (violin); and Patrick Mulvihill (keyboards).

Despite the additional instrumentation on some of the songs, the overall vibe of “Random Perfect Plan” is strictly acoustic and most tunes harken back to the earthy, roots-folk style found on previous albums like 2008’s “Sweet by and By” and “The Door is Open,” from 2014.

But there’s a healthy dose of material on this record that could easily fit into another genre altogether: Bluegrass. The lyrical themes throughout the record of being outdoors in the country, reflecting on remembering loved ones lost and yearning to travel and explore beyond one’s hometown frequently find their ways into mountain music. But the Tillinghast’s have dialed down the tempos to something that fits their intense, personal folk style. 

Although the songs are not the frantic 200 beats per minute found in bluegrass, the cello is essentially playing the same phrasing for solos and endings found in most mountain music. They even wrote two waltzes, “Halfway There,” and “When We Were Young, which would be standard additions to most bluegrass festival sets. 

Photo Courtesy of richardtillinghast.com

Speaking of tempos, “Forever Friend” picks up the pace a bit in a song that celebrates the parting of close friends, and I found it to be a welcome change. And the tune “Good Life” is the closest thing to a pop song of sorts - with the catchy chorus of “washed clean like after a good rain.” We get a gypsy jazz feeling on “Save My Soul,” and are treated to one instrumental on “U Peace S.”

It’s somewhat ironic to me that Richard’s banjo is conspicuously absent from this record. I remember him showing me his banjo that he has used for many years, and I remember him saying that he found it in a barn in Trout Lake. A good banjo story is hard to argue with.

Tillinghast’s songs seem deeply personal and he obviously has much love and connection with his family and home life. From the simple joys of watching his children interact with him in “To See My Girl,” or the serious vocal on “The Wonder of it All,” it’s easy to see, and hear, that Tillinghast is in awe of the world, and how he has created his life to fit in it.

For more information about Richard and Tova Tillinghast visit:

https://richardtillinghast.com/home

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