Howdy:
Noticed this in my local CD shoppe and decided to pick it up. The dealer said it was selling very well, and he had to reorder it.
16 tracks, all solitary fingerpicked acoustic guitar (a great(!) sounding Martin M-42) except for two tunes done acapella.
Here's the track list with some notes:
1) Try Me One More Time
The Marshall Owens tune. Same tuning (Spanish at G), same melody, same chorus as the original. entirely different first half of verses (better than original IMHO), played in slide style, though lots of fretted notes in G sections. Very good.
2) Kind Hearted Woman
The Robert Johnson tune. Maybe the best non-RJ version I've heard. Close enough to the original guitar part to be recognizable. Adds one of his own verses (really good) and rearranges the verse order, strangely enough putting the bridge verse at the very end.
3) Big Road Blues
Tommy Johnson. I think he plays this out of E, standard tuning!. the vocal is a bit over the top, but still sounds fine. Sort of a different take on this.
4) It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
Bob Dylan. Very bluesy version. Great single string break. I like this a lot.
5) Buckdancers Choice
Liner notes say this is patterned after the McGee bros. version. An instrumental. Very nice picking.
6) I Belong to the Band
Rev. Gary of course.
Not one of the album's best tunes. I don't think his voice suits gospel material, but the guitar part is OK.
7) Moonshiner
Done acapella. Not to my taste.
Shake Sugaree
Elizabeth Cotton's tune. Very sensitively played and sung. Suits the sound of the M-42 very well. A highlight for me.
9) Hey Bub
I'm more familiar with this as "Mule Riding' Blues" by Big Bill. He does this as an instrumental, as he states he has forgotten the words and can't find the original recording. This is in Broonzy's "Willie Mae" group of tunes. Bromberg's instrumental version works well.
10) Love Changing Blues
This is the Willie Mc Tell tune. I'm not familiar with the original, but it sounds like "Mama, 'T ain't Long 'Fore Day". Bromberg is great on the slide in this one. Sends chills up my spine. Very well done (not on a 12, which is OK with me).
11) When First Unto This Country
He says he learned this from the New Lost City Ramblers. A folk tune.
12) Levee Camp Moan
The Texas Alexander-Lonnie Johnson tune. A very slow blues. He doesn't have a T. Alexander voice, but who does. Nice interplay between voice and guitar, accompaniment mostly single string work.
13) Trying to Get Home
Another Rev. Gary tune. I like this better than "I Belong..."
At one point in this tune he pushes his voice harder and it works better. Nice guitar part.
14) East Virginia
Another folk tune, he learned from Paula Bimbaum. His voice shows obvious affection for this song.
15) Winin' Boy
This is the only tune that, when I listening to the CD the first time, I repeated. Neat 16 bar structure. Learned off an old Blues Project album. He really gives this a New Orleans flavour, to my ear. Another highlight of the CD.
16) Lonesome Roving Wolves
An acapella folk tune. Hmm.
I like this CD a lot. Bromberg is obviously playing tunes he learned very early in his career and has affection for. The guitar parts are uniformly great. David's voice works better for some tunes and styles than others, but his voice is all there.
Voice and guitar. Very effective. And interesting takes on some old blues tunes. Get this one.
Alex
