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7/6/2006
P.R. Brimstone
Preimer acoustic guitar fingerpicker Mary Flower continues her stylistic boundary breaking with her latest offering, "Bywater Dance". Like shifting dancing partners on each song, various instruments take their turn with Mary's guitar: Piano, clarinet, sousaphone, trumpet, tuba, accordion and washboard all make graceful appearances. With a serious nod to New Orleans, particularly pre-WWII style, carrying on the tradition of pairing blues/country artists with jazz musicians continues in new and exciting ways.
The mood is set with the old-time classic, "The Blues my Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me" getting a real Hot Jazz-Louis Armstrong bounce. "Last Kind Word" is based on the 1920's recording of orginal composer, Geeshie Wiley, giving the blues a hypnotic minor-key effect. Other tunes such as the Gospel-drenched "Built Right on the Ground" and Mary's own instrumental, "Raise the Devil" feature her oh-so-tasty Lap-slide guitar playing. Rags ("Terminal Rag", with a lovely duet between Mary and Dr. Michael White's clarinet) and Waltzes also get their turn to shine. With usually no more than three or four musicians on each song at a time keeps the music on an intimate level.
The fact that is was even recorded in New Orleans (obviously before Hurricane Katrina) makes the apparent joy and looseness between the musicians even more remindful of disastrous effects of the storm there. However, in typical 'Nawlins style this is no funeral march! So let the good times roll with Mary Flower's "Bywater Dance".