Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Review: austin "walkin' cane"--murder of a blues singer



This is one fine blues disc. Austin "Walkin' Cane" Charanghat comes out of Cleveland playing acoustic and electric and slide guitars and singing with a great full-of-life baritone voice. This is his fourth cd under his own name since 1997--he participated on Chris Allen's 2007 cd "Lonesome Stars." From the website: "The Walkin' Cane Band featuring Mike Barrick on bass, Michael Bay on guitar & Jim Wall on drums captured the perfect "live in the studio" feeling that Charanghat & co-writer Chris Allen had envisioned for these songs. The band is a "well oiled machine" & has been writing, recording & performing together since 1998. Special guests on "Murder of a Blues Singer" include Colin Dussault (Colin Dussault's Blues Project), Eric "Eroc" Sosinski (Michael Stanley, Wish You Were Here) and one of Cleveland's finest gospel groups, the Prayer Warriors." This is the sort of collection of songs that Sonny Boy Williamson and Son House and the old timers made--it sounds absolutely effortless, the kind of music that Eric Clapton could never dream of making. There is a lot of authentic honest music making happening here--the band and the songs bring together a great tight sound and they tell a story. There are ten songs here: eight originals by Charanghat and/or Allen, and a cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" and a cover of Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' On My Mind." The cd is on Lazy Eye Records and the website is: Http://www.walkincane.com

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