ANOTHER SWEET ALBUM
Scrapironjazzerino | New Joisy | 12/03/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you want some "real", heartfelt stringband and country blues to make you feel alive, then look no further. The EAST RIVER STRINGBAND out of the Village in NYC have come up with another fine album. Eden Brower is really getting a feel for these old-time tunes, and her partner John Heneghan always plays well and in a manner fitting this beautiful old music. There's fine toe-tappin, authentic dance tunes, moving ballads such as Geeshie Wiley's "Last Kind Words Blues", and even that plaintive classic from Appalachia, an early Bascom Lamar Lunsford classic, "I Wish I was a Mole in the Ground." 2 Charley Patton tunes receive a nice treatment as well, "Yellow Bee" and "Screamin' and Hollerin the Blues" (solid guitar by John, just right). They're joined by their friend Don Flemons, the superb multi-instrumentalist and scholar of old-timey music from The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Eli Smith and the ubiquitous Pat Conte round out the band, keeping the groove steady and tight.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, THIS COLLECTION! So, if you want to dance, or cry, or feel the beauty of music made on the front porch, in the jook joint, at the dancehall, or the living room of real Americans struggling to make their way through hard times and fighting back through handmade music and everyday poetry, then buy this cd now. You won't be disappointed. John and Eden make rollicking and lovely music. Cover art is by their good friend, R. Crumb.
If you're familiar with Eden and John's playing, you might want to check out another great disc which has just been released, Devine's Jug Band's "Terrible Operation Blues" featuring Meredith Axelrod."