Southern Old-Time Harmonica
Mark Graham
Independent
2000
18 tracks
It's a pleasant surprise to discover traditional music recorded acoustic and without unnecessary embellishment, just as it might be played on any back porch across North America. I've just discovered such a release, and what a treat it is! Mark Graham brings the old music to life in ways that many contemporary artists cannot.
I'm glad to see that Graham chooses to avoid genre classification and to instead simply call this old-time music. Here is the folk music that came to be called country music, but infused with a bit of a bluesy edge. It's a music without time or genre, living and breathing through the generations since far before memory. Graham is its new messenger.
Of the 18 official tracks (more on that later), all but five are arrangements of traditional tunes. These five, four written by Graham and one a contemporary Graham arrangement of a traditional tune, could easily be mistaken for traditional pieces. There is an authenticity to this music that reflects Graham's respect for the form.
For a harp player, Graham plays a mean fiddle. Most of the tunes on this release originated as fiddle tunes. Graham turns the harmonica to good use, capturing the spirit of old-time fiddle music. Here, his harmonica doesn't sound at all out of place. It's a credit to Graham that he avoided the temptations of modern technology and kept the music simple. The sparse sound of Graham's harp is enhanced but not crowded by guitar, mandolin, five string banjo, washboard, fiddle (on two songs only), and bass (on one song only).
This is lively music that evokes images of the old-time barn dance, foot-stomping music it's hard to sit still for. As I write this, I feel that virtual stem of oats dangling from my mouth and I have the urge to dance around the room.
It's disappointing that Graham doesn't sing more on this release. He has a real feel for traditional music that comes through in his singing. Here is no new country but a down to earth sound that hews to the roots of the music. As a singer, Graham evokes Doc Watson, Woody Guthrie, Earl Scruggs, and others of an era now long past.
Southern Old-Time Harmonica features Graham's singing on only four tracks. Of these, "Billy the Kid" and "Jonah and the Whale" are noteworthy treatments of traditional subjects. "Curly Headed Woman" was written by Graham, clearly with a great deal of respect for the form. There is a timelessness to this song that harks back to the past and may sustain it well into the future. "I Saw a Man at the Close of the Day" is a classic treatment of a traditional song. It is in this song that I am reminded of the best performances of artists like Doc Watson or Mac Wiseman. Here is a performance that should be gettting play on every country and folk radio program.
As seems to be the fashion these days, there are a couple of unlisted tracks on this release. I'm not really sure why either was included. The first is an instrumental piece of about equal quality to the rest of this release. It seems to me it could as well have been included among the listed tracks. The second is a bit of weirdness. This is almost six minutes of a potpourri of speech, music, and other seemingly random sounds, often overlapping, which have very much the sound of someone cruising the radio dial. In the midst of all this arises Graham's harmonica backed by banjo. Make of this what you will.
I can't say enough positive about this release. If you like your music authentic and performed not with the sort of stultifying reverence that assumes it's already dead but with respect that keeps it young and alive, I do recommend you add Mark Graham's Southern Old-Time Harmonica to your collection.
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