Muldaur
's unique tone and phrasing are instantly recognizable, and like many musicians who came of age during the 1960s folk revival, he was making roots music before the term was invented. He's a fine blues singer and an inventive interpreter of folk, pop, ragtime, and jug band music, to name just a few of the genres he's put his stamp on. In 2008 his longtime friend
Stephen Bruton
, favorite guitarist of artists like
Kris Kristofferson
and
Bonnie Raitt
learned he had terminal cancer.
asked
Bruton
to join him in the studio for a project he was recording, a roots music super session that was going to explore the intersection of folk, blues, country, swing, ragtime, jug band, and mountain music. That said, it's ragtime and jug band music that most informs
's arrangements.
Big Bill Broonzy
's
"All by Myself"
gets a rollicking treatment with
's boozy lead vocal and tasty solos from
's guitar,
Cindy Cashdollar
's dobro, and
Floyd Domino
's piano.
"Fan It,"
a tune made popular by
Bob Wills
, features a saucy vocal from special guest
Jim Kweskin
, solid fiddle work by
Suzy Thompson
, and
Cashdollar
's jazzy pedal steel.
"Sweet to Mama"
harks back to the sound of early African-American string bands.
moans the blues and plays banjo with barebones backing by
Thompson
's fiddle and
Bruce Hughes
on standup bass. The surrealistic
"Under the Chicken Tree"
blends jug band, cowboy, and Hawaiian pop with a playful vocal from
Kweskin
,
on kazoo,
Johnny Nicholas
on mandolin,
playing banjo.
"Blues in the Bottle"
was one of the first tunes cut by the
Kweskin Jug Band
reprises his role from that early session with
's dobro,
Hughes
on standup bass adding a big jazzy vibe to the take.
Burton
adds mandolin to the sinister blues numbers that end the set.
"Travelin' Riverside"
is a grim
Robert Johnson
(is there any other kind?) tune with
's foreboding dobro and
Nicholas
' tortured guitar adding to the menacing atmosphere.
W.C. Handy
"Yellow Dog Blues"
gets an instrumental arrangement that suggests swing, ragtime and jug band music to take things out on a high note,
's fiddle wailing like a preacher possessed by the Holy Spirit.
passed shortly after these sessions, but the music lives on, sounding like a loose, freewheeling, front porch gathering of longtime friends. It's a fitting tribute to
and another feather in
's cap, an excellent addition to his already impressive body of work. ~ j. poet