Hit List

Willie Nelson, Crazy: The Demo Sessions.

Recorded when he first arrived in Nashville in 1960, these demos were supposed to make Willie Nelson a star. Of course, Music City wouldn't be ready for his brand of country music for another 15 years, but that didn't stop Nelson from hiring some of the best musicians in town, including Pig Robbins on piano and Jimmy Day and Buddy Emmons on steel guitar. The sound quality varies from song to song, most of which last under two minutes, but the performances are beautifully idiosyncratic and the writing first-rate. With more conventional treatments, these songs became hits for Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Ray Price ("I've Just Destroyed the World"), and Faron Young ("Three Days"). Forty years later, it's pure pleasure to hear them for the first time, listening to Nelson try to find himself and knowing how the story ends. (Sugar Hill, www.sugarhillrecords.com)

—Kenny Berkowitz

 

Eliot Fisk, Scarlatti Sonatas.

Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas for harpsichord are a series of exquisite miniatures full of light and shade and profound musicality. They combine 18th-century Spanish and Italian melodic styles with Baroque counterpoint in a way that is well suited to the guitar. Eliot Fisk has captured all of these qualities in this collection of 18 sonatas arranged for solo guitar. His expert handling of the material, both in the arrangements he has created and in their performance, reflects a lifelong affinity for Scarlatti's music. (Vgo, www.VgoRecordings.com)

—Stephen Dick

Harry Manx and Kevin Breit, Jubilee.

This meeting of musical minds recalls the 1970s–'80s recordings of Geoff Muldaur and Amos Garrett: a soulful singer and quirky, blazing instrumentalist ranging across the pop and roots landscape. Harry Manx's cool baritone and meditative Mohan veena (Indian slide guitar) temper Kevin Breit's hot-and-hyper instrumental antics perfectly. Breit is best known for his subdued and tasteful playing on Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson records. But on Manx's vocal features, which range from the traditional "Diving Duck Blues" to Danny O'Keefe's "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues," Breit rips off some of the most ear-bending and fresh slide playing heard in years. Breit's original contributions to the duet favor quirky instrumentals played on odd instruments: cavaquinho on "When Abbot Met Costello," mandocello and banjolin on "No Particular Place to Be/Itchy Knees and Elbows," and baritone banjo on "Tell Me about the Blues Highway, Grampa." The overall result is cause for jubilation among acoustic and roots music fans. (Northern Blues, www.northernblues.com)

—Scott Nygaard

 

Randy Howard, I Rest My Case.

No fiddler amassed a more impressive record in the demanding world of fiddle contests than Randy Howard, and many would argue that no fiddler ever achieved the technical mastery displayed by Howard during his brief life. Driven to excel, he practiced and performed incessantly, winning every top contest and making his mark in Nashville as a session musician before cancer struck him down at the age of 38. On this project, recorded between 1996 and his death in 1999, Howard shines with equal grace in musical settings that range from straight-up bluegrass to Parisian swing. With guitar greats Bryan Sutton and Romane, mandolinists David Grisman and Sam Bush, and a host of other acoustic greats joining him here, I Rest My Case stands as a timeless tribute to one of America's greatest players. (Sugar Hill, www.sugarhillrecords.com)

—David McCarty

 

Reverend Gary Davis, The Sun of Our Life: Solos, Songs, a Sermon: 1955—1957.

The Reverend Gary Davis had pretty much stopped singing blues songs by the time he made these recordings for Tiny Robinson in the mid-1950s because he felt the raw subject matter didn't mesh with his life as a minister. But as some of the tracks on The Sun of Our Life reveal, in the right circumstances he could still be persuaded to sing a classic like Blind Blake's "West Coast Blues" or to improvise a slow blues instrumental. Fifteen of the 19 tracks here, all previously unreleased, were recorded in Robinson's living room. They include a mix of blues, ragtime, and gospel tunes that showcase Davis' guitar picking and powerful voice. The remaining tracks were recorded in a small storefront church in Harlem and include a 20-minute sermon from Davis that is as rhythmically complex as his most intricate rag. (World Arbiter, www.arbiterrecords.com)

—Michael Simmons

 

The Sadies, Stories Often Told.

Stories Often Told could be a soundtrack to a '60s-era westernÐeerie and suspenseful, the reverb-drenched guitars evoking images of sunsets over open plains and lone cowboys fighting the good fight. The opening track, "Lay Down Your Arms," sets the scene with a galloping surf guitar line and relentless drums. From there, brothers Dallas and Travis Good, who share guitar and vocal duties, lead this Canadian quartet through rollicking rave-ups, surf instrumentals, and bluegrass-influenced country-rock with fraternal harmonies, allegorical lyrics, and acous-tic picking. Their cover of indie-rock band DQE's "Tiger Tiger" is a boisterous stand-out among the more atmospheric tracks. (Yep Roc, www.yeproc.com)

—Nicole Solis

Elizabeth Mitchell, You Are My Sunshine.

Call it alt-tot music. Having kids doesn't mean you have to trade in your Bob Dylan for Barney. On her second record for kids, Elizabeth Mitchell, cofounder of the neo-folk band Ida, proves the point with an ideal soundtrack for parents who know that gaining a family doesn't mean losing your sense of taste. Full of fun reworkings of classics like "Skip to My Lou" and "You Are My Sunshine," the record also throws clever curveballs like "Alphabet Dub," "Hey Bo Diddley," and "Three Is a Magic Number" from Schoolhouse Rock. Whether you have kids or not, if you have any weakness for sweet acoustic tunes sung with soulful sincerity, you're liable to love this record. (Last Affair, www.youaremyflower.org)

—Drew Pearce

The Adams Duo, Montana Skies.

The rich sonorities on this CD by the Adams Duo make one wonder why cello and guitar duos are so rare. Jennifer Adams' lyrical cello work blends superbly with the intricate nylon- and steel-string guitar playing of her husband Jonathan on tunes that range from Jonathan's neo-romantic originals to Celtic and Brazilian tunes to Beatles classics. There are many highlights here, including Jonathan's hypnotic original "December Morning," the traditional "Bridget O'Malley," and an elaborate, imaginative reworking of "Eleanor Rigby." These tunes and the rest of the material on Montana Skies are characterized by great attention to tone and dynamics, played with deep passion and expression. (The Adams Duo, www.theadamsduo.com)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

Sam Shaber, Eighty Numbered Streets.

New York City–bred Sam Shaber has the kind of elastic voice that can snap easily from a hoarse wail to a skyscraping falsetto. Shaber's third CD was produced by pop maven Shawn Mullins, who capitalized on Shaber's high-cresting melodies, showcased on the rousing acoustic rocker "Eldorado." Shaber joins hearty rhythmic strums with such straight-talking lyrics as "When moonshine is only moonshine / When I have traveled every inch of you / Where will we be?" ("When the Roses Run Dry"). With their smatterings of funky bass lines and novel vocal nuances, Shaber's tunes are unfussy and thoroughly embraceable takes on familial loss, urban alienation, and uncharted relationships. (SMG, www.smgrecords.com)

—Karen Iris Tucker

Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, June 2003, No. 126.

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