Category: English pieces (Page 10 of 11)

New Orleans/Texas.

Before Katrina hit New Orleans, many fled to Texas. The musicians among them were taken on board by the Texan music family. As a result, this CD contains sixteen tracks by fourteen acts, eight from New Orleans and six from Texas. Although unknown, these artists have, apart from much experience, talent too. Label owner/piano player John Autin discovered and produced both new Orleanians Anders Osborne and Theresa Andersson, whereas Rockin’ Jake has been a well-established name in the Mississippi delta for ten years. Many others combine playing for others with their own music, which is audibly more to them than work.

Full of inspired playing this tribute cd reflects the versatility of New Orleans well. Continue reading

The debut of city of Utrecht’s Swamp Chicken was reviewed favourably in the Dutch domestic music press, but caused few waves after that.

That is also incomprehensible today, because what Dirk-Jan van der Hoeven – drums/vocals, Joris Reijn – bass/vocals, O.J. Strijbis – keyboards/vocals, Andre Stevens – slide guitar/guitar and Eric Kerns – vocal/acoustic guitar demonstrate in eleven songs mostly written by Kerns and Stevens, is impressive.
Their mix of blues, jazz, funk and bits of country and pop is inspired by the Band, the Black Crowes and especially by Little Feat, but original at the same time. Especially of the kind of the Feat and Swamp Chicken there are too few bands to call this music a genre. Continue reading

John Batdorf seems a debutant, but almost made it big in the seventies with Batdorf & Rodney. That group made two LPs and scored a hits as Silver later too. After that Batdorf remained active as a songwriter and producer/composer of scores for tv-series. He also issued four CDs with Michael McLean in the nineties.

His solo-EP Side One and his solo-CD Home Again lead to Old Man Dreamin’, for which he wrote with McLean again. Their experience of years results in eleven songs in which Batdorf mixes country rock and folk with catchy melodies.

Batdorf  sings lyrics in which he combines his personal life with involvement in both a crystal clear and emotional way, backed by a rootsy band. The layered close harmony background vocals and the firey guitars also make this a CD of a kind of which too few are made.

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www.johnbatdorf.com

Sign Of Life only contains seven songs. In them Brewbaker proves to be a jazzy singer-songwriter with a lazy timing. The versatile guitar player/bass player/keyboardist drew his inspiration from fusion and singer-songwriter, with unexpected changes in tempo and original background vocals. His emotional guitar solos and occasional solos by saxophone player Brian Graham simply wrap this EP up.

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www.davidbrewbaker.com

Personal tradition.

White’s two previous CDs were not released here, but were, just like this third, the result of his late vocation. Previously the New Yorker mostly wrote music for commercials and played sessions for amongst others Shawn Colvin and Peter Wolf, whose Fool’s Parade and Sleepless he also produced.

Musical acquaintances from the circles of Paula Cole, Joe Henry, Norah Jones and Bob Dylan played, amongst whom drummer Shawn Pelton and Larry Campbell, here on guitars.

Keyboardist/guitarist White writes sometimes swinging rootsy songs with supple melodies, occasionally furnished with moody horns, just like colleague New Yorker Marc Cohn does. Continue reading

Fest.

Canadian blues man Harry Manx was already never to be pigeon-holed on his two solo CDs: he writes, plays the banjo, the acoustic slide and the National steel guitar. Apart from that,  Indian V. M. Bhatt’s ex pupil also plays the Mohan Veena invented by the latter, an Indian twenty string cross between a sitar and a steel guitar.

At a folk festival he jammed with versatile guitarist Kevin Breit, who played for Cassandra Wilson, Holly Cole and Janis Ian amongst others, but who recorded instrumental CDs solo too, with percussionist Cyro Baptista and with Sisters Euclid.

In these fourteen songs the two found each other: they blend blues and folk with jazz and country, a touch of Indian music and a firm dose of singer-songwriter. Continue reading

On Forest Sun’s seventh (!) cd are ten songs he wrote himself and Dylan’s She Belongs To Me. Still Sun combines folk just as easily with influences from pop music as from country. Continue reading

In nine songs Forest Sun offers a crash sourse in roots music on his seventh cd, especially aimed at children: his own Trampoline merges seamlessly with the eight classic children’s songs that he changes into reggae, funk, calypso, country and folk. Continue reading