12/1/2005

Gary von Tersch

Mary Flower is a world-renowned folk/blues singer and guitarist (in both the intricately syncopated Piedmont finger-picking style and her own lap-slide approach). She has been eager to record an album with New Orleans musicians for years.

Bywater Dance was recorded, save one cut, at the Crescent City's Piety Street Studio and was completed in just a week, indicating the musical combustibility and jam session atmosphere that prevailed in the sessions. Flower, joined by locals like Henry Butler, Jon Cleary and Dr. Michael White, glides effortlessly through the variegated byways and backwaters of American roots music - making chestnuts like "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me," "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues," "Brother Can You Spare A Dime" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" all her own. Her mountain spring-clear voice and deft fretwork also tastefully flavor originals such as the bottleneck bluesy "Raise The Devil" and a series of buoyant instrumentals. I like the bouncy, clarinet-seasoned "Terminal Rag" and the jaunty "La Grippe" the best.