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Preserving Country Blues through Education, Performance and Technology.
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Angola Prisoners' Blues--Arhoolie CD 419 |
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Written by John Miller
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 This CD was recorded by Dr. Harry Oster at Angola Penitentiary in
Louisiana in the 1950s. Arhoolie has released two other CDs of
material recorded by Dr. Oster at Angola in the same period, one
focusing on work songs and the other on spirituals.
The program
starts with Robert Pete Williams performing his "Prisoner's Talking
Blues", a free-associated recitation over riffing in D on Dr. Oster's
twelve-string guitar. Robert Pete expressed himself so poetically in
the normal course of affairs that it is hard to believe he didn't plan
out lines like:Write Comment (0 comments) |
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This Old Hammer - John Miller |
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Written by Andrew Mullins
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 This Old Hammer - John Miller
Orb Discs Orb-1010
This Old Hammer is John Miller's first solo blues outing in over three decades, so one can understand how some people may have been getting a little impatient waiting for this record to appear. His LPs made for Blue Goose in the 1970s are highly regarded -- and nearly impossible to find. Shortly after those albums, John was off exploring different musical directions, with projects over the years ranging from jazz to bluegrass to world music. While those who have had the opportunity to see him perform live in recent years have been able to catch tantalizing snippets of this new blues album at a gig or workshop, finally that music is gathered in one place.
(I should say in the interest of full disclosure that I know John and have studied with him at the Port Townsend Country Blues Workshop for years. Like a lot of people, a great number of them his fellow musicians, I admire his talent and the depth of his knowledge of country blues styles. But given the strength of this album, any possible bias I might have seems irrelevant to me.)
The overall creative approach taken on This Old Hammer is to reinvent country blues originals that have caught John's ear over the years. As he explains in his notes for the CD, "I wanted to retain particular aspects of the songs that I was starting with, but always to be introducing different elements, as well -- perhaps a new melody, different lyrics or a new harmonization, in addition to, in every instance, a different accompaniment." The other element that I think is at least in part being reinvented here is an approach to solo blues guitar playing. John is an extraordinarily creative guitar player in several genres, so it was unlikely that he would stick to tried and true guitar formulas and vocabulary when he is a master at creating his own. Still, these are some startlingly fresh and thoughtful arrangements. Sometimes he will exploit different tunings and positions on the guitar to achieve sounds and textures that open the genre up, while at others he just dazzles with what can be done with a few chords in standard tuning. All of it, however, is in the service of solid music, never simply to appear flashy or impress.
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ARI EISINGER - THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN NO MORE - Guitar Blues and Ragtime from the 1920s and 1930s |
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Written by Andrew Mullins
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 For the uninitiated, hearing Ari Eisinger the first time can be a shock. The authenticity with which he recreates some of the best and instrumentally complex country blues is downright spooky. It can be fun to watch professionals’ reaction as well. A little jaded by years of experience and road-weariness, they might smirk when this small, thin man who looks more like an accountant than a blues musician walks out on stage with his Gibson guitar. Those faces change quickly when he starts to play. It’s a look that says, “I’ve never heard anyone do that.” And it’s true. There is no one I’ve encountered who plays Blind Blake with such authority and who remains so faithful to the spirit and style of the original music. Hearing the Philadelphia-based guitarist is a rare event though -- he performs infrequently and records even less often, with this, his second CD, coming far too many years after his first release, You Don’t Understand. As with his first record, there are a number of Blake tunes on this collection, and this time round Eisinger adds the blues of another one of his heroes to the mix, with three tracks from Texas legend Blind Lemon Jefferson. “One Dime Blues” opens the record, and while it’s not an exact recreation of Lemon’s recording -- Ari weaves his own touches throughout -- it’s as close as you are likely to hear and sets the tone for the rest of the CD: astonishing guitar blues played with all the prewar style intact. Little if anything is modernized for the contemporary palate. Eisinger’s stance is that the music of the 1920s and ’30s blues men and women succeeds gloriously on its own merits and doesn’t need smoothing out or updating. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Roy Book Binder - LIVE at the Fur Peace Station, PL CD 7005-5 |
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Written by Andrew Mullins
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 Roy Book Binder has been on the road and playing country blues for audiences since the blues revival of the 60s, when he was a student of Rev. Gary Davis. With all of that traveling and performing, he's had a lot of time to perfect his stage routine. Listeners to Live at Fur Peace Station, his latest release, are the beneficiaries of this long experience and polish. Recorded in performances from 2002 to 2004 at the concert hall of Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Book Binder is in fine form, playing his brand of raggy, east coast country blues and deadpanning his way hilariously through the stories and one-liners for which he's become well-known. "The Book" is a modern country blues character if ever there was one, and for those not yet familiar with his style, this record is probably as good an introduction as you can get, short of catching him live.
Book Binder's last live album was the 1994 Rounder release, Don't Start Me Talkin'. That's a good record, but this one is even better, with a more interesting set of songs, in my opinion -- and Book Binder seems very much at home at the Fur Peace Ranch. There are actually a few echoes of the earlier CD in the stage repartee here, working essentially as in-jokes. It's worth noting that the talk on this record is given its own tracks, allowing you to skip straight to the music -- Roy can certainly spin a yarn and some introductions are longer than the songs -- or go straight to the talk as you prefer. He's one of the few players out there who could do a record without touching his guitar and still come up with an entertaining piece of work, and it's telling that he has appeared at the National Storytelling Festival. Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Love, Murder and Mosquitos - Red House RHR CD 172 |
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Written by uncle bud
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 It's hard to believe it's been five years since Paul Geremia's last
record, The Devil's Music. That's too long for a musician of this
calibre to go without a release. Finally we have Love, Murder and
Mosquitos.
There's quite a bit of 12-string guitar on this album, with a
good eight tracks - almost half the CD - played on that great-sounding
twelve he restored. The record is probably more strictly country blues
than his previous release - no Ray Charles or Percy Mayfield - although
aside from John Hurt's 'Frankie' and Patton's 'Pony Blues' there aren't
many songs from the country blues Top 40 (which is just fine with me).
Even 'Frankie' is given a rather unusual treatment on 12-string, and
'Pony Blues' features Martin Grosswendt on fiddle to distinguish it
from the usual take on this Patton classic, while at the same time
recalling Patton's work with Henry Sims.
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