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(back) - Kevin McCarthy's
Celtic & Folk Music CD Review - This is the second review in
as many months where "chance circumstance" raised its
bitter-sweet head. This time, just as I was about to listen to
the CD, news came through of the death of the great American
folklorist, Alan Lomax. And Lomax of course, was the man
who, with his father, discovered Huddie Ledbetter (soon
to be much better known as 'Leadbelly') in Louisiana
State Penitentiary, when they were touring the Southern
States seeking to record folk performers for The Library of
Congress. And the rest, as they say, is history. Richard
Flohil, in his immensely readable liner notes, shows how
Leadbelly’s influence was such that his music would even
jump continents, and be the cause of a new musical craze in
Britain: the "Skiffle" of the 1950s.
Leadbelly did
not just change the world of MUSIC: he also changed people's
LIVES. And one such was a young English kid called John
Baldry, born at the start of the most perilous decade in
British history. When the British Commonwealth stood
alone against the Nazis. |
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The
14-year-old Baldry heard 2
Leadbelly
songs sung by the young Lonnie Donegan,
noted the name of the writer, and then sought out his work. Soon
he began to master the
Leadbelly
canon. And before many
years, Baldry (now Long John Baldry) had achieved real
fame in Britain. The early to mid Sixties were here, and I
remember him vividly, seeing as I was only 6 years his junior.
Very tall (hence the nickname) and singing what struck me then
as being raw and uncompromising stuff. Baldry disappeared from
my consciousness. Until now. Where had he been all this time?
Well, he had been in Canada, for nearly 30 years! He had built a
respectable musical career there. Throughout
Remembering
Leadbelly, his excellent backing musicians provide sterling
service. No dud cuts. Track 11 (We're In The Same Boat
Brother) is my pick. Here, his phrasing and breath control
prove top-drawer. But best of all are the two "bonus tracks"
that occur after a two minute hiatus. We have two that are both around 6 minutes
long, and two that are also both GEMS. The second one has LJB
recalling the past, and doing so in a beautifully modulated
"Oxbridge" English. The kind
of English that would get him straight into the Royal
Shakespeare Company WITHOUT an audition. An interview from 1993 with
Alan Lomax. He must have been in his late 70s then, but
sounded a young 39. Especially when he hollered in an
approximation of the early
Leadbelly
singing style. And
it occurred to me that the day that I rediscovered
Leadbelly
(not to mention Long John Baldry too!), I was listening
to the man who had discovered Huddie in the first place! And by
some strange symmetry, as one ARRIVED, another DEPARTED. And now
it is ME who departs this review. If you have never heard
Leadbelly, and want to buy a "starter" album, I'll tell you
something that might enrage true
Leadbelly
fans. Buy THIS
one. Long John Baldry somehow picks the locks of the songs more
quickly than The Master, and you are INSIDE each song BEFORE YOU
KNOW IT. Somehow he makes them more accessible, without
compromising their integrity. Good to know BALDRY'S alive; good
to know the SONGS are alive: and heck, good to be made to feel
that THIS REVIEWER TOO, is also very much alive.
-Dai Woosnam, Grimsby, England.
[email protected] -
www.surfnetusa.com/celtic-folk |
