Some years ago I decided it was time to start exploring pre-war music, as my ears were always getting blasted either by the latest extreme metal bands or I had the misfortune to hear yet another auto-tuned manufactured multi-million selling “artist” on the radio, and I wanted to get back to the beginning. Back to when John and Alan Lomax were using field recordings, or early recording artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. There is something incredibly unique, real and honest about those early recordings, and I never expected to hear anything like this being recorded in 2019, but here we have The Ebony Hillbillies who have gone back to that time and have produced something which in this day and age is both unique and incredibly desirable.
The band are led by Henrique Prince (fiddle, vocals) with Norris Bennett (banjo, mountain dulcimer, guitar, vocals), Gloria Thomas Gassaway (on vocals and bones), acoustic bassist William “Salty Bill” Salter (three times Grammy winning co-writer of legendary songs such as “Where is the Love” and “Just The Two of Us”), Allanah Salter (shaker, vocals), Newman Taylor Baker/Ricky “Dirty Red” Gordon (washboard percussion) and A.R. on “cowboy” percussion kit. They mix together country, bluegrass, folk and jazz in a way which takes the listener back to the past. There is a luscious wonderful languid version of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, which in many ways is very different indeed to the rest of the album as the vocals are warm like liquid velvet, the bass is deep and warm, while the rest of the instrumentation isn’t quite as stark as on eth rest of the album. The first time I played it I felt quite annoyed as I felt in some ways I was being brought back to the current day, where I didn’t want to be, but it is soon back to the Twenties and Thirties and some incredible music.
According to the press release, “the full length collection reflects a soulful, gritty and alternately funky, romantic and socially conscious place where toes are always tapping, percussion is slapping, fiddles are jamming, front porch chairs are rocking, banjos are plucking and voices are raised in determination and triumph.” I couldn’t say in any better myself, except that if anyone has ever expressed an interest in discovering early rare recordings, and the joy that brings, then this is essential. I still can’t believe I am hearing what I am hearing: there is something about this which is spiritual and incredible, where the fiddle is a fiddle and not a violin, where the music brings out feelings and one knows the performers are smiling while they perform this. Overdubs? What are they? Superb.
Rating: 8/10
