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3/26/2006
Ron Weinstock
Typically marvellous release by master fingerstyle blueswoman ****
One of the truly wonderful fingerstyle guitarists and a lovely vocalist, Mary Flower went into a studio in the Bywater area of New Orleans last May shortly after JazzFest and with various local musicians wandered into the studio, joining her for her latest recording, ""Bywater Dance" (Yellow Dog Records). It is bitter irony that this disc came out shortly after Katrina devastated much of the Crescent City, but this is a terrific recording in which the guest musicians sound like they had played with Mary for some time, not simply in the studio. One thing refreshing about Mary is that she mines songs oft the beaten path, so no Robert Johnson covers thankfully. Instead we hear her render a marvelous "Blues My Naughtiy Sweetie Gives to Me," with some rolling piano from Amasa Miller and a hot clarinet solo from Tim Laughlin. Miller switches to accordion on "Crow Jane," which is derived from the William walker recording and her marvelous strutting guitar matches Walker's original. On "Raise the Devil," after an introduction with some sublime slide playing from Flower, Jon Cleary adds some wonderful backing piano. Cleary is also present on Flowers' rendition of George Washington Thomas' "New Orleans Hop Scotch," one of the first recordings to sport a boogie bass pattern. Kirk Joseph adds sousaphone for the bass here and a horn section including Tim Laughlin and Charlie Miller add atmosphere. Cleary takes a nice Longhair-flavored piano break, and Flower has a typically cleanly executed solo.
She is a marvellous blueswoman and only being conservative with my rating causes me to give it four and not five stars as I do recommend this unreservedly.