Op zijn nieuwe plaat Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man doet JP Harris iets totaal anders. De laatste jaren ontwikkelde hij zich tot een van de meest aansprekende maar ook dwarse countrymuzikanten, nu duikt hij diep in de geschiedenis en komt met zijn interpretaties van tien traditionals, zichzelf begeleidend op een zelfgemaakte banjo en bijgestaan door Chance McCoy. Kale, door merg en been gaande muziek. Opvallend is de opener; de moordballade House Carpenter. Laat dat nou, niet geheel toevallig, het andere beroep van JP zijn. Detail: voor Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man heeft JP zich de naam JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind & Rain aangemeten. Maar het enige dat er echt toe doet is dat dit een plaat is zoals geen enkele andere. Echt fantastisch!.
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JP Harris has a secret: his name is actually “Squash.” Long before Harris became a well regarded honky-tonker, he used his childhood nickname while playing archaic “old-time” American tunes at underground fiddlers’ gatherings, engrossed in this punkish folk music world. Don’t You Marry No Railroad Man, his debut recording of traditional music under the moniker JP Harris’ Dreadful Wind and Rain, features ten tracks spanning the breadth of American old-time repertoire. Harris wades between ancient ballads that traveled from the British Isles to Appalachia like “Barbry Ellen,” to droning banjo ditties such as Hobart Smith’s entrancing “Last Chance,” here played on one of Harris’ coveted homemade banjos. Harris also works as a serious carpenter which adds a unique authenticity to his versions of the classic “House Carpenter” and lesser known “The Little Carpenter.” Alongside Harris’ haunting vocals, the album prominently features the low-tuned fiddle and harmony singing of his longtime friend and Old Crow Medicine Show member Chance McCoy, who produced the record at his West Virginia studio in an old barn. On this sparse and arresting recording, Harris isn’t mining his roots as a marketing pitch, he has the chops to back it up. In fact, this collection of songs made him who he is today. Welcome home “Squash.”
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Tracks
1. House Carpenter
2. Closer to the Mill (Going to California)
3. Mole in the Ground
4. Country Blues
5. Last Chance
6. Old Bangum
7. Barbry Ellen
8. The Little Carpenter
9. Otto Wood
10. Wild Bill Jones
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Liner Notes
JP Harris DIRT-CD-0101 LINER NOTES.pdf
JP Harris DIRT-CD-0101 LINER NOTES.pdf
Links
Tags: Free Dirt
Klanderman Promotion 