Hit List

Jeffrey Halford and the Healers, Hunkpapa.

This is one fine set of roots rock, a 12-pack of street-smart songwriting and hard-and-lean grooves strongly reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Hunkpapa is a guitar feast as well, from Halford’s searing National Resolectric slide, Telecaster, and acoustic rhythm to supporting tracks by alt-country guitar journeyman Chuck Prophet and others. While gritty imagery and bar-ready rock dominate, Halford also shows an unexpected soft side in an ode to childhood ("Radio Flyer") and the wistful "Oh Susanna." Not a weak track here, and many that beg to be played loud. (Shoeless, www.jeffreyhalford.com)

—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

James Leva, Memory Theatre.

Virginia fiddler and songwriter James Leva and Irish guitar magus John Doyle explore some delightfully fresh music on Memory Theatre. To date, Leva’s music has hewn close to the vintage traditions of Appalachia, but Doyle’s daring rhythms and contemporary harmonic sensibilities nudge Leva into territory where the ancient and modern collide in a happy shower of musical sparks. From the opening rave-up on "Sourwood Mountain" through the wistful "Queen of the Earth, Child of the Skies," Leva and Doyle breathe new life into hoary classics and provide solid settings for Leva’s thoughtful originals. Their readings of the quirky, filigreed Edden Hammons tunes are particularly fine. Dave Grant’s imaginative bass lines underpin the proceedings, while graceful contributions from Carol Elizabeth Jones on vocals, Rose Sinclair on accordion, and Jamal Milner on slide guitar add shimmer and depth throughout. (Copper Creek, [540] 563-5937, www.coppercreekrec.com)

—Paul Kotapish

Django Reinhardt, All Star Sessions. Django Reinhardt’s fans tend to focus, understandably, on the Quintet of the Hot Club recordings that feature Stéphane Grappelli. While Reinhardt’s reputation rests on the spectacular results of this collaboration, these late-’30s sessions that feature the Gypsy genius in the company of top American jazz musicians are equally important. These tracks, recently reissued and remastered by Capitol Records, show that Reinhardt could keep up with such elite soloists as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter, who were in a different league than the very best Europeans. Reinhardt doesn’t always solo, but even on tracks where he doesn’t, such as "Crazy Rhythm," he makes a huge contribution. This is swing for the ages. (Capitol)

—Duck Baker

Sam Phillips, Fan Dance.

Recorded (mostly) live in the studio, Fan Dance is the quietest album Sam Phillips has ever made. Inspired by the Parisian novelist Colette, these are "difficult" songs—intelligently crafted, the lyrics nearly opaque—that are more theatrical than confessional, closer to the music hall than the coffeehouse. Fan Dance doesn’t have the dense, interwoven settings of Phillips' last album, Omnipop (1996), but it’s far from simple, with harpsichord, cello, and "quattro banjo guitar" as well as acoustic guitar, piano, bass, and drums mixing in a beautifully unconventional set of arrangements. T Bone Burnett’s production is careful to keep all these instruments gently clashing together, giving the songs a restless, unsettling intimacy. (Nonesuch)

—Kenny Berkowitz

Various artists, Los Maestros Colombianos: Colombian String Groups 1928–1934.

Although companies like Martin, Lyon and Healy, and Regal were making tiples as early as 1923, the small ten-string guitar never really caught on in North America. But in Colombia it has always been extremely popular, and as the recordings on Los Maestros Colombianos demonstrate, the tiple is capable of great complexity in the hands of a good musician. The tracks include performances by players such as Jorge Añez, who was one of the greatest tiple and guitar virtuosos of his day, and Trio Hermanos Hernandez, three brothers who played tiple, guitar, and bandola, a large-bodied relative of the mandolin. The exquisitely performed music is at turns elegant, fiery, and sentimental. Colombian music may not be as well known as that of other Latin American countries like Brazil or Argentina, but its sweet melodies and intricate rhythms are as appealing as any tango or samba. (Lirio Azul)

—Michael Simmons

Various artists, New Standards for Flatpicking Guitar.

Take 15 of the most inventive and prolific flatpickers of the modern era, ask each to pen an original guitar-oriented instrumental, pair them up in interesting duet combinations, and you have New Standards for Flatpicking Guitar. Combining the talents of such pickers as David Grier, Jeff White, Tim Stafford, Jim Hurst, and Kenny Smith, among others, this beautifully recorded project is highly recommended for all flatpicking fans and a great introduction for the uninitiated. Highlights include Eric Thompson’s "Jibaro Hoedown," which merges bluegrass flatpicking with the jibaro music of rural Puerto Rico, and "Django and Al," a flatpicking rave-up featuring Curtis Jones and Bryan Sutton that sounds like Django Reinhardt jamming with the bluegrass true believers at Bean Blossom. (Flatpicking Guitar magazine, www.flatpick.com)

—David McCarty

Voices on the Verge, Live in Philadelphia.

Four burgeoning singer-songwriters, each with her own devoted following, recently got together to perform their material and record it before a live audience. The result is a CD of silky harmonies and a rootsy mix of tunes flavored with Tin Pan Alley influence (courtesy of the banjo-toting Erin McKeown), brassy folk-pop from the eloquent Jess Klein, Rose Polenzani’s eerie poetics, and the rousing gospel chants of Beth Amsel. Though each stamps her storytelling with its own mark, this quartet is a whole that is as great as the sum of its parts. (Rykodisc, www.rykodisc.com)

—Karen Iris Tucker

Scott Sandvik, Open Field.

Boston guitarist Scott Sandvik visits the outer regions of guitar tonality on this thought-provoking CD. Most of the tracks are based on a cappella African-American songs Sandvik learned from 1920s recordings. He began by transcribing the vocal melodies of the songs, which use tones outside the equal-tempered scale, and then developed them through improvisation on fretless nylon-string and lap-slide guitars. Two additional tracks are explorations on a fretted nylon-string guitar in a tuning derived from the overtone series. The sparse, open sound is exhilarating and will appeal to anyone interested in extending the tonal range of the acoustic guitar. (Bluesurge, [617] 489-6831, SASandvik@aol.com)

—Gary Joyner

Minton Sparks, Middlin’ Sisters.

Middlin’ Sisters is a collaboration between poet Minton Sparks, multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott, and the inimitable Waylon Jennings, who sings a rare a cappella version of "Precious Memories" on the final track. Sparks’ stories of four generations of strong, southern women—her family—are utterly captivating. She writes with mysticism, grit, and satire and reads with so much rhythm and inflection she’s an instrument all her own, backed tastefully by Scott and Rob Jackson on guitar, banjo, Dobro, and mandolin. (Dualtone, www.dualtone.com, www.mintonsparks.com)

—Rani Arbo

Bruce Mathiske, On the Edge.

On his third CD, this Australian steel-string guitarist demonstrates formidable fingerstyle technique and writing skills as he cuts a wide swath through such musical styles as swing, boogie blues, samba, and nuevo flamenco. Mathiske’s playing is characterized by a powerful, crisp attack; attention to tone; and an ability to maintain his lyrical phrasing on up-tempo dazzlers (like his remarkable, raggy, jazzy version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow") as well as slower material such as the beautiful and moody original "Soft Day in Athlone." This is an addictive CD from a player with a broad, quirky musical imagination and the chops to express it. (Mathiske, www.mathiske.com.au)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

Visit the reviews archives to read dozens of reviews of great acoustic-guitar oriented CDs.

 

Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, January 2002, No. 109.

 

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