#318 : Muddy Gurdy

Muddy Gurdy

2017 – Vizztone

Release Date : 2/2/18

By Phillip Smith; Feb. 3, 2018

Muddy Gurdy is absolutely one of the most interesting blues albums I’ve heard in recent years.  Hypnotic Wheels, a trio of French musicians, Tia Gouttebel (guitar/vocals) Gilles Chabenat (hurdy-gurdy) and Marc Glomeau (percussion) embarked on a journey to the hills of North Mississippi to record with local blues artists who are tightly connected to the fabulous music of their elders.  The recordings were made using a hurdy-gurdy as a second guitar and captured with an eight-microphone preamp and computer in someone’s house, porch, front yard, or historic landmark such as Dockery Farms or B.B. King’s Club Ebony.  From Mississippi, the contributing artists are Cedric Burnside, Shardé Thomas, Cameron Kimbrough, and Pat Thomas.

I love the homage to R.L Burnside, with the wonderfully hypnotic cover of “Goin’ Down South” and the driving beat of “See My Jumper Hanging on the Line”.  It’s in these two tracks that the wonder of the hurdy-gurdy is revealed.  Its swampy slide-like sound magically lends itself to trance blues music in a very fitting fashion.  Cedric Burnside, grandson to R.L appears with acoustic guitar in hand and mic for a beautiful performance.  He pays a wonderful tribute to his late brother Cody Burnside on “That Girl is Bad”, and hangs around for a tantalizing cover of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”.

Muddy Gurdy explores fife and drum music with Shardé Thomas.  Thomas gives a delicate vocal and fife performance on “Station Blues”, a song by her grandfather and fife-master Otha Thomas.  Her delivery of the traditional “Glory Glory Hallelujah” is stunning.   

It’s a real treat to hear Cameron Kimbrough, tearing it up on guitar while singing his grandfather Junior’s “Leave Her Alone”.  The rolling rhythm pulls me right in to its vortex of sound.  Cameron inherently keeps the swirling melodic framework in place for his own original tune, “Gonna Love You”.  Pat Thomas’ “Dream” is downright extraordinary.  Sung and strummed by the son of James “Son” Thomas at the Highway 61 Museum in Leland, Mississippi, this folk-country blues song is a prime example of the inner-beauty of music.

         

At Dockery Farms, Gouttebel takes the vocal reins on Hypnotic Wheels’ rendition of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s classic “Shake ‘em on Down” which is followed up with a mesmerizing cover of Charles Singleton’s “Help the Poor”, first recorded by B.B King in 1964.   

I highly recommend this album, especially for fans of the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues. 

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North Mississippi Allstars - Prayer For Peace

2017 – Sony Legacy  

By Phillip Smith; June 3, 2017

North Mississippi Allstars has been one of my favorite bands since they rolled out Shake Hands With Shorty in the year 2000.   With their latest album Prayer For Peace, the three-time Grammy Nominated Dickinson brothers, Luther and Cody bring another fine batch of blues songs to the table.  Recorded in multiple studios across the U.S., while on their 2016 tour, this self-produced album features quite the notable guest list, which includes Oteil Burbridge, Graeme Lesh, Sharisse Norman, Danielle Nicole, Dominic Davis, and Shardé Thomas.   

The driving trance beat and the beckoning of a “Prayer For Peace” warmly lures the listener into the album.  The accompaniment by guest musician, fife-master Shardé Thomas (daughter of Otha Turner) is the cherry on top of this mantra for world peace.  A delicious bombardment of greasy slide guitar from Luther grabs my full attention on the riveting hill country blues of “Run Red Rooster”.  They tackle “Stealin’”, first recorded by the Memphis Jug Band in 1928 (and also covered by the Grateful Dead), in a raw stripped-down Stones fashion.  Taking on another couple of cues from The Dead, they tear into an intoxicating version of “Deep Ellum” and break out a plumb terrific jam on “Bid You Goodnight”.  

Wonderfully psychedelic licks woven into clusters of fat electric riffs breathe new life into the hill-country blues of R.L. Burnside’s “Birds Without a Feather”.  Another Burnside foot-stomper they take on is the fabulous “Miss Maybelle”.  They also pay a nice homage to the great Mississippi Fred McDowell, injecting a fortified soulful groove into “You Got to Move” which segues very nicely into a smoking rendition of “61 Highway”. 

The Dickinsons valiantly do their part to make sure the blues are not forgotten by keeping the music alive in their performances.  Their taste in music is extraordinary as is their interpretations of it.  Prayer For Peace continues their tradition.  

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