73 f
@ Johns And Nowak Same (9 020384 842574). Six tracks by English duo playing and singing American music with guitar and mandolin accompaniment. Competent but little else.
www.johnsandnowak.com
2 Gillian Welch Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg (Acony Records). Revival’s twentieth anniversary celebrated with eight previously unreleased songs and 21 outtakes, alternate versions and demos across two- discs. Welch’s voice thrills on her timeless songs while David Rawlings makes grown guitar owners weep for their sorry, useless fingers.
gillianwelch.com
2 Freeland Barbour And Friends The Music And The Land: The Concert (Greentrax CDTRAX 392). Recording of a concert to launch Barbour’s superb musical/ photographic magnum opus (see fR 395). The Occasionals and friends play along with guests Phil Cunningham, Simon Thoumire, Martin Carthy, Ross Ainslie, Gary West and others equally worthy of a mention.
www.greentrax.com
@ Duke Robillard Blues Full Circle (Dixiefrog DFGCD 8792) Another month, another new Duke Robillard CD! Robillard’s previous acoustic album was a delight but nothing on here distinguishes it from his many other releases. His weakness here is his vocals which don’t have enough weight to carry the songs he chooses to sing. If he could sing as well as he plays guitar he’d be a true genius.
www.bluesweb.com
1 Baby Boy Varhama The Blues Come Around (Bell 1060). Pentti ‘Baby Boy’ Varhama is a 65-year-old Finnish guitarist/ vocalist first influenced by the British Blues boom in the late ’60s before discovering American country blues. Singing in English, he uses his husky voice well on wide choice of material. Interesting instrumentation and arrangements help make this an album worth searching for.
babyboyvarhama.com
1 The Swanee Quintet The Complete Nashboro Releases 1951 – 62 (Acrobat ADDCD3179). The Swanee Quintet may not be as well known as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama or The Soul Stirrers but as the 53 tracks on this double CD attest, they were a gospel vocal group to be reckoned with. Fired by their raw lead vocalist Ruben Washington (James Brown was a fan) and laced through with the fluid guitar work of ‘Pee Wee’ Crawford, their repetitive down- home rhythmic style is often quite mesmeric.
www.acrobatmusic.net
Duke Robillard
1 Richie And Rosie Tractor Beam (6 16895 07442 4). Fiddle, banjo and vocal duo from New York. Some original songs and tunes alongside better known ones but nothing outstanding.
www.richieandrosie.com
1 John Cee Stannard Stone Cold Sober (CastIron CIRCD 025). Apart from a cover of Blind Blake’s Lead Hearted Blues, Stannard has written all the songs for this album. His guitar, banjo and vocals are given ample support by a bunch of seasoned Berkshire- based musicians including Simon Mayor on violin and mandolin. His musical muse might be rooted in the USA but Stone Cold Sober is distinctively very English (and none the worse for it).
www.johnceestanard.co.uk
2 Michel Balatti The Northern Breeze (Felmay fy 8240). Former member of Birkin Tree and Italy’s finest traditional Irish flute player (the equivalent of Ireland’s leading prosecco exporter?) Balatti has a smashing tone and a set of powerful lungs which drive this hugely enjoyable album of tunes both familiar and obscure.
michaelbalatti.org.
2 Michael Cleveland Fiddler’s Dream (Compass74674 2). Bluegrass fiddle playing at its best and most exciting by the staggeringly good Michael Cleveland. Perfect pitch and tone, unlimited dexterity and most important, good taste. For aficionados of the genre, breathtaking.
compassrecords.com
1 Seán Ó Sé Seán Ó Sé – A Life in Song and Story (Multicultural Media/Lyrichord MCM 1012). Matthew Allen’s somewhat emerald-eyed film on the renowned West Cork singer (who first came to prominence in Seán Ó Riada’s ground-breaking Ceoltóirí Chualann ensemble in the 1960s) comes over more as a tourism enterprise than a musical study and is clearly aimed at the Irish- American market.
www.worldmusicstore.com
@ John Redmond John Redmond Box Sets (John Redmond). County Wexford button accordeonist delivers ten utterly unmemorable tracks of his own compositions “in the Irish tradition”. Adequately played and backed, but as useful as a member of the Trump family.
redmondirishmusic.com
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