Search - Various Artists :: Raise the Roof - A Retrospective: Live from The Barns at Wolf Trap

Reviewed in The Washington Post by Richard Harrington, Wednesday, February 2, 2005 "That two conjoined 18th-century barns could prove so hospitable to so much fine music won't surprise anyone who's ever visited them at Wolf Trap. In fact, 17 acts have recorded live albums at the Barns since they opened in 1981 as the smaller, year-round adjunct of Wolf Trap, and a handful of compilations have also come out of assorted folk-focused programs. This new CD gathers one track from each of 16 artists, about half of them local, and captures the venue's populist appeal, nowhere more raucously than in the opening track, "Rock This House," a Jimmy Rogers blues classic delivered with typical bravado by the Nighthawks. The Barns' juke joint feel is brought home in similarly energized performances by the Deanna Bogart Band, the Grandsons and the aptly named Roomful of Blues, who romp through the T-Bone Walker instrumental, "Two Bones and a Pick." Beausoleil's "Perky Dance Two-Step" and the Iguanas' sinewy "Para Donde Vas" exemplify why the Barns also doubles so effectively as a dance hall. On the other hand, its superb acoustics are well suited to the subtler singer-songwriter offerings of Nils Lofgren (the airy, hopeful "Some Must Dream"), John McCutcheon and Chris Smither. Among the previously unreleased tracks: Tom Paxton's gentle evocation of the '60s folk boom, "Did You Hear John Hurt?," with harmonies from Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, whose wry and mirthful "Daughters of Feminists" is a highlight. So is Eddie From Ohio's "Great Day," a rousing a cappella gospel quartet built around Julie Murphy Wells's sterling lead and underscored by clapping hands and tapping feet."