EDEN AND JOHN'S EAST RIVER STRING BAND:

DRUNKEN BARREL HOUSE BLUES

East River Records ERR 1003

    For their third release, Eden Brower and John Heneghan, the duo at the heart of the East River String Band of New York City, make a deviation from the format of their previous recordings.  Both "Sweet East River" (2006) and "Some Cold Rainy Day" (2008) were albums of 20's and 30's blues tunes, though their debut did include a cover of Billy Rose's 1926 pop tune, "Tonight You Belong To Me."  Both of those recordings were also essentially guitar and uke and vocal performances.

    This recording finds Eden and John adding old-time country music to the mix while expanding the East River String Band on several tracks to include guests Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, banjoist Eli Smith of the Dust Busters and fiddler Pat Conte of the Otis Brothers.  Of the thirteen tunes, five have strong ties to the old-time repertoire.  "Johnson Boys" is well-known, as are "I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground" and the party-song "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight."  Though notably first recorded by Riley Puckett, listeners with a love of old movies may remember the latter tune as the one Bette Davis sings on the steps of her plantation in "Jezebel."  A little less known is "Devilish Mary," a tune recorded by both the Red Fox Chasers and the Skillet Lickers in the late 20's.  All four tracks careen around with verve and all receive full stringband treatment, sometimes with quills, mandolin or harmonica joining the guitar, uke, fiddle and banjo.  

     The real ear-catcher for me among the old-time tunes is the rare "The Fate Of Talmadge Asborne."  As best I can tell, the only version recorded before this was by Pop Stoneman in 1927.  Performed here with John's guitar and anguished vocals and with Eden's uke lead introducing the parloresque melody, the song at first seems a minor (and mildly graphic) cautionary lament for a man crushed by a train backing down the line, but as the threatening and mysterious third verse and the refrain of "many a man's been murdered by the railroad" make clear, it is a protest song in the tradition of "Four Cent Cotton" and "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Hard Times And Live?"  Why has it taken so long to be re-recorded?  Who can say?

     The remaining eight tracks are country and ragtime blues, most performed as uke and guitar duets.  "Drunken Barrel House Blues" from Memphis Minnie gets the cd off to a rollicking start.  Minnie had a powerful stum, and Eden honors that by hammering down on her guitar behind the snapping lines of John's fingerpicking.  They then shift into Blind Willie Johnson's gorgeous "The Rain Don't Fall On Me."  Here the vocal duet is quite mesmerizing.  Sometimes the voices are right together and other times one or the other is slightly ahead or behind the other, creating an effect that is both weary and ethereal.  A couple of tunes connected to Charley Patton--one by him ("Screamin' and Hollerin' The Blues") and one credited to his wife Bertha Lee ("Yellow Bee")--follow as does Geeshie Wiley's minor-tinged "Last Kind Words" and Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Corrina Blues," a variation on "C.C. Rider."

    "Screamin' and...." earns high marks for the way it builds and builds, starting thin but thickening as John starts popping the low strings of his Kay and, as the song gets halfway done, adding his foot stomping.  Eden also takes her her vocal intensity to greater levels with each verse.  It would be the blues standout except for the nifty version of Peg Leg Howell's "Too Tight Blues."  It is impossible to resist the free-wheeling vocals and ragtimey groove of that one.

     But then it's hard to resist this album as a whole.  The programming is excellent.  The performances, recorded in what sounds like "everyone gather 'round" fashion, are full of the glorious whirl of life and get better with each listen.  Bill Wagner