I've been listening to a new release,Root Walking, by Big Walker. Big Walker has assembled 12 original compositions including 17th and 18th century poems. It's Hard, the opener is a standard Chicago blues track and grooves quite nicely. Raise A Rukus has the flavor of a back country compound with hoot and hollarin along with a stripped down blues singing, guitar and harp. Wild Black Bill uses the blues format to tell an interesting little story not unlike the early southern blues... very cool. Run Nigri Run really has that southern voodoo sound and is a great track. The Hypocrite Blues has the characteristics of a early American country song ... possibly from the Appalachians. Can't Take No Train head back to Chicago for a high steppin' early electric Mud type track. Midnight Special is the traditional track whose authorship is unknown. It was first recorded in around 1900 and has since been recorded by everyone from Ledbelly to CCR. There is a cool acoustic slide part on this track. You Got A Home In That Rock, a traditional spiritual, is done uptempo with a bit of a rock beat and nice harp work. Papa Guede gets that Little Feet/ New Orleans feel going and along with again nice slide and harp work is a really cool track. Devil's Cloth has that deep south voodoo sound and is very interesting. It's not just the rhythm with these tracks but how certain instruments and sounds are used strategically to create the ambiance... again very cool. Thirteenth Full Moon is a much more conventional rock format track and has a real nice groove including guitar and sax riffs that help to create the mood. Slave is another dark track in that voodoo sound. Big Walker seems to have the formula down to express these tracks in a very effective way. Instuments are used for effects and voices are used as instruments in an orchestra. Overall a very interesting composition.
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This is Big Walker playing blues in a more traditional fashion:
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