Leo Kottke, Standing in My Shoes. On his 24th recording, Kottke gets funky in the studio with bass player Dave Smith and producer Dave Z (of Prince fame) to present something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue (well, maybe purple). Repetitive fingerstyle and slide grooves, layers of percussion, understated organ, Kottke's lovely deep vocals, and some well-placed sitar parts propel this record. New treatments of old pieces include the title
track, which originally appeared on Mudlark, and "Vaseline Machine Gun" from Six- and 12-String Guitar. Borrowed songs include a percussive cover of Fleetwood Mac's "World Turning" and a driving rendition of "Cripple Creek." Rock out, Leo! (Private/BMG)
--Simone Solondz
Wyatt Rice and Santa Cruz, Picture in a Tear. The youngest brother of Tony Rice steps out on his own with a new band and a new CD that marks him as a ma-jor new talent in bluegrass. Already renowned as a great flatpicker, Wyatt Rice has assembled a band that melds elements of traditional and contemporary bluegrass into its own sound. Guitar fans will especially appreciate his hot playing on the instrumental "Santa Cruz Breakdown." (Rounder)
--David McCarty
Steve Phillips, Just Pickin'. A pleasing mix of tunes that evoke the days when old-time jazz, country, and blues crackled over the airwaves. The collection features 18 tunes recorded between 1969 and 1981 in a range of styles reminiscent of Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang, and the Delmore Brothers. In addition to originals and a frenetic duet by Phillips and Mark Knopfler, Phillips plays convincing renditions of blues tunes like "Bullfrog Moan," "Moon Going Down," and "Blue Guitars." (Revival/ Batsville, 37 Colwyn Rd., Hartlepool, Cleveland, TS26 9AS, England)
--Kermit Pattison
Ed Gerhard, Counting the Ways. Gerhard's fine interpretations of love songs are a poignant listening experience, with or without a significant other. From the wine-and-roses sentiment of "Maria Elena" to the breezy Polynesian strains of "Isa Lei," Gerhard carefully polishes each tune to a luster without adding unnecessary gloss. His medley of "If I Fell/In My Life" is one of the best fingerstyle Beatles arrangements on record. Most haunting, however, are Gerhard's renderings of two folk classics, "Wilde Mountain Thyme" and "The Water Is Wide," which he describes as "one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard." You might say that about every selection on this recording. (Virtue, PO Box 532, New-market, NH 03857)
--Jim Ohlschmidt
Quintet of the Hot Club of San Francisco, Live MCMVC. The resolute Gypsy spirit of Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France thrives without being slavishly copied by jazz guitarist Paul Mehling and his talented ensemble. Although this CD has a few rough edges, a sense of exploration gives it drama and electricity. Hot Club standards like "Douce Ambiance" come alive in the hands of Mehling, who also excels as a singer and composer. His Django-influenced originals "Don't Panic" and "Veronica" offer memorable melodies, while his singing on "Old Fashioned Love" and other tunes captures the spirit of 1930s-style swing. (QHCSF, 1919 Octavia St., Suite 2, San Francisco, CA 94109)
--David McCarty
Craig Dobbins, Hymns for Finger-style Guitar. Dobbins, a talented
guitarist whose Jerry Reed transcriptions have been published in several books, presents on cas-
sette a dozen solo arrangements
of traditional hymns in their Sunday best. Timeless melodies such as "Amazing Grace" and "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" are respectfully embellished with chords and harmonies that bring to light their full musical character. Dobbins' thumbpicking gives "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" an up-tempo bounce, and on "In the Garden" he lingers on each note as if it were a small revelation. These arrangements make you wonder why churches don't retire their organists and hire really good
fingerpickers. (CBD, PO Box 8075, Gadsden, AL 35902)
--Jim Ohlschmidt
Ken Perlman, Traditional Dance Tunes for Acoustic Guitar. Ken Perlman's books have long been among the best places to learn the Anglo-Celtic-Appalachian end of fingerpicking, so this reissue of his 1978 Fingerpicking Fiddle Tunes is very welcome. The 31 selections, in very readable tab and standard notation, come from both sides of the Atlantic and range from beginner pieces such as "Old Joe Clark" to metrically tricky numbers such as the North-umbrian "Nancy." A CD of new recordings replaces the old seven-inch floppy record--too bad the discography didn't get an update as well. A very useful book for beginning and intermediate players. (Mel Bay)
--Russell Letson
Cecilia Tichi, High Lonesome: The American Culture of Country Music. Rather than presenting a straight chronological history, Tichi's new book traces the path of country music through the themes that its performers keep returning to. Her subjects can be broad--there are chapters entitled "Home," "Road," and "Wild Wild West," for instance--or highly focused, such as her chapter "Red Red Rose." The latter is a fascinating examination of how country singers use the image of the rose in songs, on album covers, and even on clothing. High Lonesome comes with a 23-track CD of some of the more important songs mentioned in the text. (University of North Carolina Press, PO Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288)
--Michael Simmons
Tony Rice, The Video Collection. It's not easy to follow the blur of Tony Rice's fingers, but this video gives fans a fighting chance. It features Rice perform-
ing live with some of the finest bluegrass musicians around, including Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, David Grisman, Mark O'Connor, Wyatt Rice, and Ricky Skaggs. The 62 minutes of footage include 15 tunes recorded at the 1992 Merle Watson Festival. Rice turns in some jaw-dropping performances on numbers like "Nine Pound Hammer" and "Salt Creek" that dis-
play his smooth flatpicking spiced
with bluesy runs and jazz chords. (Vestapol/Rounder)
--Kermit Pattison
A Musical Journey: The Films of Pete, Toshi, and Dan Seeger, 1957&endash;64. This is an unpretentious "home movie" documentary of various musical discoveries, filmed by the Seegers using a vintage 16-millimeter newsreel camera with optical sound that they carted along on their many travels. A simple yet powerful film, A Musical Journey is a window on our cultural roots and a view to a lost era of unaffected people making genuine music. Among the most pow-erful subjects are guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, by chance recorded at a summer camp the day before a throat operation silenced him, and the Ellis Unit, a prison gang in Huntsville, Texas, singing under an armed guard's watchful eye as they work to fell trees. Edited by Stefan Grossman, the video runs 58 minutes. (Vestapol/Rounder)
--Roger Deitz
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