Review A Favorite Underrated Acoustic Album

[tiktok]

Richard Thompson, "Small Town Romance".

[GeetarMonkey]

What a great thread!

Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins - Neck and Neck
I've just re-discovered this great album from the early 90s.  Some great acoustic picking. Just a joy to listen to.  The new album by Knopfler & Emmy Lou Harris is pretty incredible too!  Check em out!

Kathleen Edwards - Back To Me
This has been my summer for discovering Kathleen Edwards!  Absolutely awesome songwriter.  She's got a crack band backing her up too.  Lots of acoustic gems, but the majority of the album is with her band.  Can't say enough about her.  I'm partial to great songwriting in the Singer/Songwriter vein and this one is tops on my IPod. Her first album is pretty good too. Title - Failer.

Liz Phair - Table for One
This is an acoustic song on her new album that is beyond INCREDIBLE.  Check out these brutally honest lyrics backed by a great acoustic player.  One of the best songs of this or any decade.  Truly my favorite song of the past year. 

Australian Music - I noticed the post alerting us to some great Australian music and you don't even mention your greatest songwriter - Neil Finn?  Check out Neil Finn's - Sinner... absolutely stunning tune.  Neil Finn's previous bands include Split Enz, Crowded House, Finn Brothers (w/brother Tim).

I also noticed quite a few postings regarding CSN&Y.  If you haven't heard "4 Way Street" by CSNY... then take a listen. Still a great album 35 years later!  I'll stop now before I veer off target... Keep em coming!

[Tycho]

I love Kathleen Edwards.  My SO and I have an occasional electric band that performs at law-related charity gigs, and we cover "In State."  It's such a fun song to play.

The underrated album I just re-discovered (after trying to find a CD copy for months) is Arlo Guthrie's Running Down the Road.  It's semi-acoustic, but the real reason I needed to get it on CD is that it's got Clarence White's electric guitar all over it.  If you're a fan of Clarence's electric work and you've never heard this album, you should definitely seek out a copy.  (For good measure, James Burton and Ry Cooder are also on it.) 

You can get it from Arlo's label, Rising Son Records, or from Amazon, though it'll take a while.

It represents Arlo at what  think was his song-writing peak, with great songs like "Comin' Into Los Angeles", "Every Hand in the Land" and "My Front Pages" (which when I listen to it now is very clearly a bit of a Dylan/Byrds send-up, even apart from the title; I'm not sure why I didn't get that when I was 15).

[billchivers]

Hello GeetarMonkey,

Neil Finn is actually from New Zealand, but as we Aussies consider NZ to be a state of Australia, I will take your point!

Anything Neil Finn does is worth listening to.

Cheers,
Bill

[GeetarMonkey]

Hello GeetarMonkey,

Neil Finn is actually from New Zealand, but as we Aussies consider NZ to be a state of Australia, I will take your point!

Anything Neil Finn does is worth listening to.

Cheers,
Bill

Bill,

Thanks for setting me straight on Neil Finn & New Zealand... better yet, thank you so much for your tip on "The Waifs".  I'm enjoying this new discovery and it's all thanks to you... awesome band!!!

[bucky1]

I have been a Roger McGuinn fan for many years and lost track of him. I wandered onto his website recently, and see that he has been recording folk tunes of late and posting them on his web site. He has re-recorded them all and put them on a 4 disc CD collection which looks mighty interesting. I have just ordered it, so I can't review it. Well I could if I made up a bunch of stuff, but that wouldn't be right, would it.

I'll post a review when I've had a chance to listen to it a bit.

For those of you who are interested, you can find it at the following link:

http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/CD_Preview/Poster.html

[Tycho]

He released a few of those songs in CD form in 2001 on an album called Treasures From the Folk Den.  It includes guest appearances by Odetta, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and others, and it's well worth a listen despite the slightly lame title.  There's an especially good version of the old folk classic "Dink's Song".

[Calvin]

Acoustic Alchemy - Aart

I was surprised that not many ppl know who they are.  Well, the members have come and gone (some to a better place), but the essence of the group remains, and they are probalby my favorite jazz/acoustic band.

[billchivers]

Hello GeetarMonkey,

I'm glad you like the Waifs. They are great in concert if you get a chance to see them.

When I saw them the support act was Ben Weaver (http://www.benweaver.net/), who was/is the partner of one of the girls in the Waifs, Donna I think. She came onto the stage with him and played percussion on an old milk churn. Ben played a 1930's Gibson OO owned by Donna Simpson, and the other instrument was a lapsteel guitar, I don't remember who the player was.

I liked Ben Weaver even more than the Waifs. I play his album "Stories Under Nails" a heck of a lot - you can download four of the tracks from his website. He is very different from the Waifs, but man what an awesome contemporary blues player. Very original, uses his voice as a drone note sometimes, and sings of the blues in daily life. He is a bit of a mixture of Leonard Cohen, Son House and early Dylan. And if you have a voice like mine you can still sing along with him! Check him out...

Cheers,
Bill