Oh Michael, Look What You’ve Done : Friends Play Michael Chapman

Compiled by Michael’s wife Andru and Tompkins Square’s Josh Rosenthal, features artists who have shared a stage with Michael, or share a personal connection. These include some of his contemporaries like Bridget St. John, Maddy Prior, and longtime cohort Rick Kemp (Steeleye Span), as well as young guns inspired by Michael’s legacy.

Available May 29th

Track listing :

1. Black Twig Pickers – Life on the Ceiling
2. D. Charles Speer – Expressway in the Rain
3. Lucinda Williams – That Time of Night (LISTEN)
4. Thurston Moore – It Didn’t Work Out
5. Meg Baird – No Song To Sing (LISTEN)
6. Maddy Prior – The Prospector
7. Hiss Golden Messenger – Fennario
8. Rick Kemp – Vanity and Pride
9. Two Wings – You Say
10. Nick Jonah Davis – Little Molly’s Dream
11. Bridget St. John – Rabbit Hills
12. William Tyler – Naked Ladies and Electric Ragtime

William Tyler delivers a bouncy version of Naked Ladies and Electric Ragtime.

Nick Jonah Davis performs a solo acoustic of Little Molly’s Dream.  Davis is a talented fingerpicker and does a fine job on this one.

Meg Baird delivers her usual standard of excellence with No Song to Sing.  A fine blend of an acoustic base, ambient feeling and tasty electric licks all framing her beautiful vocal delivery.

Lucinda Williams’ cover sounds like it’s straight from her soul.  The ache and pain and pure emotion of this performance is 18kt gold.  A sparse, beautiful trip into That Time of Night.

Solid version of Fennario is delivered by Hiss Golden Messenger.

I'm very much enamored with The Prospector by Maddy Prior.

I must again proclaim my support for tribute and various artist compilations.  Many times in the past I have purchased compilations for just one or two artists presented on such releases only to discover many new and exciting artists that I have never heard of before.  You might find something new yourself!

Check out the extensive posts about Chapman over at Small Town Romance, at the end of the post is a guide to all of his releases.  

Buy from Tompkins Squa

Michael Chapman Guitar Tablature

Fantastic to see artists that post tab to some of their music.  I think everyone appreciates the effort and it's the best kind of self-promotion!

Go check it out!

The Terry Robb Band - MUDDYVISHNU

Review by Andrew Stranglen

The first thing that struck my mind when I heard the opening title cut of The Terry Robb Band's new album 'Muddyvishnu', was how much the tune reminded me of the guitar savvy of the late Jimi Hendrix. High praise I know, but this album deserves high praise. Rock solid from start to finish, or should I say Blues solid? Jazz solid? Fusion is what defines this effort. And a seamless effort it is. 

Muddyvishnu is released on Terry's own label Psychedelta Records, 

whose goal is 'bringing roots music into the future', along with redefining the genre known as 'American Primitivism', aka: 'American Primitive Guitar', a genre description coined by the legendary John Fahey.

Vishnu is one of the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Shiva (The Destroyer). 'Muddyvishnu', an apt title choice given the Psychedelta Records mission statement.

On the youtube link above Terry is interiewed on the street outside before a gig, in it he explains the title Muddyvishnu as "Muddy Waters meets Mahavishnu" (as in Mahavishnu Orchestra). The comparison of Terrys electric guitar playing to John McLaughlin, or even Jimi Hendrix for that matter is in no way a stretch. He's been described as a musician's musician, a guitarist's guitarist, and as evidenced by 'Muddyvishnu', such descriptions are wholly justified. 

But back to the album for a minute, 11 total tracks, seven of which  are T. Robb originals. The last track is entirely acoustic Lap slide (#11 The Refreshing), and No. 7 (Ju Ju) which begins acoustically and sweetly transitions to electric guitar. The other nine tracks feature Terry playing hotly!, jazzily!, fusionally!, bluesy! electric guitar, expertly backed up by Adam Scramstadt on guitar, Dave Kahl on bass, and Jeff Minnick on drums. This is not your average ho-hum blues band. 

  

The tunes on Muddyvishnu range from juke-joint blues (#5 Lonesome Home, #9 Sheriff Brown) and smokey late-night wanderings (#3 Idle Moments, #6 Worried About It Now) to the fusion laden Title cut (#1 Muddyvishnu) and the surf-tinged (#10 Sweet Hip), and then there's the Faheyesque closer (#11 The Refreshing) which conjures Misissippi John Hurt, and a number of other original Roots Blues players. Actually, they're sprinkled all over this album! 

This album is repeatedly rewarding listening, I highly recommend it.

It is the absolute best album of this kind that I've ever heard! 

I'll eat my guitar if you don't find something to like, I'm that confident. 

-Andrew Stranglen

Terry has quite a list of musical accomplishments:

http://www.terryrobb.com/biography.aspx

http://www.terryrobb.com/
    

Jack Rose & John Fahey TAB

Just a post of a mish-mash of TABs today.  More from Paul, thank you sir! And some others I found here and there.

First is the excellent little tune Flirtin' With the Undertaker from Jack Rose's Kensington Blues.

Download Flirtin' With the Undertaker

And here we have West Coast Blues, John Fahey's version.  I've got two of these so I'll post them both.  The text one is from Nicolas on the AG forum thank you sir!  I can't recall where I got the other one so if it's yours give a shout so I can give you some credit.

Download West Coast Blues txt

Download West Coast Blues pdf

Iain Chambers - Mini-World Tour

Iain Chambers recently released a gem called Rituals and Pastimes.  He's hit the road and I wanted to alert you to that fact.

Sunday, April 22nd Iain will be playing a live show in Tokyo, Japan an Cafe Uma Merdre.  

His first stop was Australia for a recording session on Sideways Through Sound.  STS will feature a couple of live cuts and an interview with Iain.  Broadcast date is April 25th.  Stream it on the web!

Sideways Through Sound, your weekly dose of acoustic reverie, shimmering psychedelia, drones, backwards bits, sitars, stuff that sounds like Hawkwind and really lots of guitar picking...

Go there...

RC Johnston - The Fahey Project

Greetings Delta-Slider readers.  I’m proud to say that today’s post is the official release of the new RC Johnston effort, The Fahey Project.  Ralph has decided to go with a digital release for his latest and Delta-Slider is the place to get it!  I’m thrilled!  But the same rules apply here as to all of Ralph’s generous releases: feel free to share this far and wide, he wants the music shared.

                        

So without further ado, here is Ralph to tell you all about it.

The Fahey Project:

Hiowdy, and welcome to "The Fahey Project", a dream of mine for over forty years.  If I had recorded "the project" back then, you would have heard poorly played approximations of John's compositions and covers, whereas today you are listening to adequately rendered interpretations, tempered of course by time and experience.

The song selection process was easy: play the stuff that most moves me, even if it takes several versions of a song for me to reach Valhalla.

Hearing John's music for the first time was a definite shock to my shriveled suburban nervous system, but the greatest shock of all was when I heard the orange label version of "Voice of the Turtle".  That edition featured "Bean Vine Blues” with Fahey and (?) on guitars and Joe Bussard and Fahey on vocals.  Along with "Night Train to Valhalla", "Bean Vine Blues" is my ultimate favorite Fahey cut.

Other favorites included are renditions of "Poor Boy", "Tell Her to Come Back Home", "John Henry" and "Farther Along" (John's "duet" with Laura Weber on Laura's PBS TV program "Guitar, Guitar" back in 1969-70).

John influenced my picking style in so many ways by introducing me to the licks of such greats as Charlie Patton, Sam McGee, Bukka White, Frank Hutchison, Weaver and Beasley and a multitude of lesser known but nonetheless great musicians.

I also learned the art of open tunings from John, and the tunings I use on this recording are a testament to that fact:

FADDAD: #s 1, 2, 6

DADDAD: #s 3, 5, 12, 13

DAD: #4

GGDGBD: #7

DGDGCD: #8

DGDGBD: #s 9, 10, 11

Fahey’s music buoyed my spirits as I reached out to explore other musical realms such as surf music, Savage Republic and Quonset’s ethno/industrial sand doomed journeys.

I think about Fahey every day.  He lauded me, he insulted me, but in the end it was all worth it.  John’s music has stood the test of time.  He is a modern classic: ignored by most, but beloved by the few.

My choice of guitars to play on these recordings was a no brainer: Dixie X appears on all cuts except “Night Train to Land O’ Lakes”.  On that song I played Gator X, a 3 stringed cigar box resonator built by Jim Mitchell of Land O’ Lakes, Florida.

Thanks to one and all for your support over the years.  Forty six minutes of music that took over forty years to see the light of day!

Cheers!  Ralph.

You can d/l this as 320-MP3
All artwork you see here, and a little more is included.

 

MP3-109MB

Please come on back and leave a comment about the music!

 Tracklist:

1. Pea Vine Apocalypse Then
2. Variations on John Henry Variations
3. Edgar Allan Poe Boy
4. Night Train to Land O’ Lakes
5. Blind Thomas’s Blues
6. Pea Vine Apocalypse Now
7. Night Train to Great Neck
8. On the Shady Side of the Desert
9. Takoma Two Step
10. The Wonderful Waltz I Heard on That Day
11. Jolly Joe’s Fonotone Blues #2
12. Tel Her to Go Back Home
13. I Love My Blind Joe Death Steam Engine Tattoo

           

Bob Hadley - "Raven," a review by Ragtime Ralph

After John Fahey and before Ragtime Ralph there was Bob Hadley, finger picker extraordinaire, high school classmate of Leo Kottke and now Vancouver, BC resident.

Hadley was second acoustic guitar instrumentalist to capture the eager ears of Vancouver guitar picker, RC Johnston.

“I first heard Bob’s “Raven” album on a local radio station back in 1973” says Johnston. “Wreck of the Last Steam Engine Train,” an out of control , thrill packed slide ride in open G tuning was my introduction to Hadley’s guitar artistry, and to me, Bob’s album is a classic that stands equally alongside William Ackerman’s first album “In Search of the Turtle’s Navel,” the Takoma guitar catalog and the many Kicking Mule releases.” Bob later joined the Kicking Mule artists’ roster, releasing “Raven” and releasing two other stellar albums over the years.

If you get the chance to hear “Raven” and Bob’s other albums, “Tunes From the Well” and “On the Trail of the Questing Beast,” you will experience another guitar great worthy of your consideration.

Bob Hadley has contributed songs to several guitar compilations in recent years...so I must ask…when will his next full length recording see the light of day?

Cheers! Ralph

Amazon

iTunes

Steve Tibbetts - Live in New York, May 9th 1992

What is it?  Jazz fusion? World rock? I have no idea, take a listen or two and try it out.  I own most of his studio work and I highly recommend it, particularly the early stuff.




Download the show.

Visit Steve Tibbetts on the web

 

Aaron Sheppard - Two new releases

Aaron Sheppard has rather quietly released a couple of very nice works that I think you should check out!  One is very traditionally acoustic and the other is a much more progressive approach to guitar playing.  You probably know Sheppard's name from his piece's on Imaginational Anthem 4 : New Possibilities and Beyond Berkeley Guitar, both from the Tompkins Square label.


 

Sean Smith – Huge Fluid Freedom

Guest review brought to you today by Andrew Hammond

This rather ambitious sounding album title provides the first clue as to what you’re in for once you hit the play button on your CD player, or for you cool cats, release the turntable needle. Through Huge Fluid Freedom Sean Smith demonstrates that he is clearly a man with little concern for genre boundaries and refreshingly he seems determined to create the soundscapes he wants to hear, rather than worrying about album continuity or our external expectations. The album is also a reflection of where Sean Smith is in his career. He’s probably best known for his American Primitive acoustic guitar work, but a quick look at his discography reveals he has, in recent years, usually had an electric guitar strapped around his neck. This album is the latest, and perhaps boldest, in a line which has gradually introduced electric guitar to acoustic guitar and given the pair a free reign over 35 minutes of soon to be disturbed silence.

The album introduces itself with ‘I Know You’re Tired, But Come. This is the Way’. A slow ambient droning intro is interrupted by a rather ugly and disjointed riff reminiscent of Shellac at their most abrasive. It feels as though its role and responsibility is to grab the listener and shake them hard, dispelling any preconceived idea that Sean Smith will be performing an acoustic track today.

With that out the way the track embarks on an exploration of the ambience that can be created with several overlays of electronic feedback and vocals, anchored by simple acoustic riff whose insistence and attitude becomes a real centrepiece for this darkly cinematic track.

If track one is the ‘fluid’, then track two is the ‘huge’. The acoustic takes a step back here as ‘The Real’ opens with an incredible wail of dissonant electric guitar.  Throughout the piece Sean demonstrates the control he has over a whirl of feedback, reverb and phase as he slowly reigns in the electric guitars allowing for moments of calm, before releasing yet another wall of sound.

Just as we’ve forgot about the acoustic guitar the album turns surprisingly to a solo acoustic track with a lovely clockwork feel. The undertones of dissonance are still there, but it’s overlaid by far more sweet melodies than we have been treated to so far, the melodies springing out of the second movement of the piece being a particular favourite of mine. At 10 minutes long this track explores several different ideas and is more like a mini musical suite of its own.

Not to be outdone, the final track is an example of how an electric guitar (with a few overlays and effects) can hold its own in a solo setting. Fittingly for the album titled track, the anthem like riffs found at its center are perhaps the most original on the album and most likely reveal the style of future Sean Smith albums, unless he finds yet another corner of music to explore first.

Overall, the album is a surprising, perhaps hard to get hold of, mix of sounds. Whilst it might not tickle the average Delta Slider reader in all the right spots, it’s great to hear an acoustic artist showing what they are capable of in other areas of music. Perhaps only Glenn Jones, via Cul-De-Sac, has a history of branching out this far from traditional folk.  Huge Fluid Freedom is certainly going to stay near the top of my music collection as I find myself wanting to listen again to the grit of ‘I Know You’re Tired, But Come. This is the Way’ and indisputable size of ‘The Real’ amongst all the other gems in there.

Pick it up at Strange Attractors Audio House
Visit Sean Smith on the web