Reviews

Table by the Wall – The Bad Day Blues Band A review by Sophia Ramirez, Editorial Team

The Bad Day is an exciting new blues-rock band, with Adam Rigg on the vocals and bass guitar, Sam Spranger on the harmonica, Nick Peck on the guitar, and Herman Moura on the drums. They opened for Grammy winner Delbert McClinton at Times Square in 2017, and since then have been rapidly on the rise, winning Best New Blues Band in the 2019 Digital Blues Awards and playing two critically acclaimed performances at The Isle Of Wight Festival in 2018 and 2019. Raw and volcanic and, as Classic Rock Magazine describes, ‘ludicrously good fun’, the group’s debut album has been much anticipated. Happily, in Table by the Wall, they’ve brought all that celebrated energy into the studio for music that dares you not to tap your feet and jam along. Table by the Wall explodes into existence with a riotous cover of Hold On, I'm Coming, Spranger’s swinging harmonica working in partnership with Rigg’s soulful voice, the sound swelling as his vocals get more intense. The title track Table by the Wall comes next, fast and high-octane, with vocals for the most part on the same level as the other instruments, everything sharing the spotlight and working together to build the rip-roaring tunes – this helps create an overall feel of electricity and fun. While the album is certainly uproarious and wild, it’s also masterful at pacing, knowing where to slow down to give the listener a chance to keep up. For instance, Wandering Man starts slow and more low-key with an easy-going beat, and then gets crazier, blasting humorous lyrics like "I've got five little kids and no damn socks'' amidst rocking instrumentals. It’s followed by Jump, which keeps the momentum going with a bouncy guitar beat that blossoms into head-bopping energy and life. However, nowhere is this vast range of pacing more apparent than the final track, Luna Rooms, which starts super mellow, the languid voice and sleepy-eyed instrumentals telling a story full of peaceful imagery by the river, until it suddenly ramps up halfway into a full-on frenzy of dynamic guitar and wailing harmonica. Through all this, Sam Spranger’s harp playing truly shines, most notably in the track Stop. In the midst of an intense rock orchestra, the harmonica’s solo surfaces, clean and hypnotic and clear as water. As the album was released in 2021, one can imagine all the obstacles faced in recording during lockdown, and the creativity needed to overcome them. Fortunately, the pandemic didn’t stop the creation of this lively and thriving album, that gives the listener everything from serene melodies to unrestrained riffs, mild to explosive, and still leaves them wanting more.

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O’Carolan’s Harmonica – Tony Eyers A review by Neil Warren

Tony Eyers is a Sydney-based player who founded the popular Harmonica Academy tuition website. Tony specialises in traditional music and developed his ‘Major Cross’ tuning (available from Seydel) to make it easier to play at faster tempos on the diatonic harmonica.

Tony’s latest project is the instrumental O’Carolan’s Harmonica album. For the uninitiated, O’Carolan was a blind 18th Century

Irish harpist who wrote many timeless tunes still played widely today. For this album, six of O’Carolan’s tunes have been selected, along with six other traditional tunes. Tony has his own harmonica trio, and he multi-tracks several harmonicas on the various songs, with the main melodies played on the Major Cross tuning. Four of the other instruments on the album (bass, guitar, piano and drums) are played by Tony’s brother, Quentin, who also engineered the album (what a talented brother!). Two more string musicians provide instrumental solos on the album to provide a balance to the plentiful harmonica sections. The album is produced to professional standards, with fine playing from all the band. The harmonica playing is highly accomplished, with great taste applied to the traditional genre. Several of the tunes are at a higher tempo, including the opening track, Katherine O’More, which is played with great gusto by Tony. True to his humorous approach, Tony includes a sigh of relief on the recording at the end of this rousing number. The song John Drury is one of the slower tunes, with a lilting gait applied admirably to the song. Young William Plunkett makes extensive use of octaves. Shady Grove is a classic bluegrass number. Tony’s last album, Black Mountain Harmonica, followed the same format of mixing bluegrass and traditional songs. The album signs off in fine style with another bluegrass number: Elzic’s Farewell. Traditional music is becoming increasingly popular on the harmonica. With this album, Tony Eyers has added another quality offering of tunes to enjoy and draw inspiration from. The album can be heard, and digital tracks purchased, here: https://tonyeyers.bandcamp.com Or email Tony for a hard copy: support@harmonicaacademy.com You can hear lots more about Tony in his recent interview on the Happy Hour Harmonica podcast: Search for ‘Happy Hour Harmonica’ or enter https://tinyurl.com/ycydd33n

Just Me and My Friend(s) – Charlie Barath – Own label A review by Norman Darwen

“There may not be any living harp player who is authentically as diverse as Mr. B”, writes none other than Joe Filisko of Charlie

Barath. So yes, he is certainly worth investigating.

This is not diversity for diversity’s sake, though. After opening with a convincing work-song, akin more than a little to

Lead Belly, an acoustic guitar and blues harmonica pre-war

Memphis-flavoured instrumental and a tough electric Chicago blues-styled Travelin’ Woman, he then switches direction with equally impressive numbers like the jazzy Western swing of

Losin’ My Mind Over You (complete with Woody Woodpecker musical quotes and a lyric reference to The Flintstones!), the very folky sounding Ohio, and the pure country of Little Turtle Nightlight. Besides being good songs, they also all feature appropriate harmonica playing tailored to each composition. Charlie is equally adept at old-timey sounds like Ollie Ollie, the hokum-ish, jug band sound of Much Better Now, and even a gypsy-jazz style accompaniment on Heart Of Mine. And of course, he frequently returns to the blues in many forms throughout the album. Versatile then, most definitely, but quality-wise remarkably consistent – very high quality indeed throughout, and thoroughly enjoyable. Take Joe Filisko’s word (and mine too) for it! Norman Darwen www.charliebarathharmonica.com

Mr Crump Don’t Like It - The Rigmarollers A review by Barry Elms, Editorial Team

This is the debut recording by The Rigmarollers, a trio featuring Ed Hopwood on vocals, diatonic harmonicas, guitar and washboard, with bandmates Julian Marshall (guitar, fiddle, mandolin) and Ewan Penkey (sousaphone). The album is a foot-tapping mixture of Prohibition-era jazz, blues, jug band, gospel and zydeco music. The album was recorded during lockdown in 2020. Given that Ed trained as a drummer, the music is heavily rhythmled, featuring Ed’s skilful washboard and other percussion playing, combined with rhythm guitar and Ewan Penkey’s up-beat sousaphone basslines.

The album features well-known numbers such as Croquet Habit, which Ed’s vocal style suits perfectly, and a lot of top-notch harmonica playing on tracks such as Save Me Some, Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, and the instrumental Cider Time Rag. Julian Marshall’s fiddle playing fits perfectly on tracks such as Wait For The Light To Shine, and for fans of guitar, there’s some great playing throughout the album, for example, check out the instrumental Dallas Rag. The album is available for purchase on Band Camp – if you’re a fan of Americana, especially Prohibition-era blues and jug band music, I can’t recommend this album highly enough! Ed is a highly skilled diatonic player, there’s some great tunes to play along with and learn from. This album is a treat to listen to, and the Rigmarollers are planning a second album of all original songs in 2022, which I’m already looking forward to hearing! https://therigmarollers.bandcamp.com/album/mr-crump-dontlike-it