Ragpicker String Band - The Ragpicker String Band

Size: 134,8 MB
Time: 57:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Front

01. Honey Babe (4:27)
02. Minor Blues (3:43)
03. Google Blues (5:37)
04. Blue Monk (3:05)
05. Clean Up At Home (3:55)
06. Motel Towel (3:57)
07. Baby Where You Been (2:47)
08. Black Mattie (4:26)
09. Lonely One In This Town (4:15)
10. By Your Side (4:17)
11. Milk Cow Blues (4:36)
12. Trimmed And Burning (4:05)
13. Street Doctor Blues (4:28)
14. Bruno's Dream (3:32)

Mandolinist Rich DelGrosso, Guitarist Mary Flower and multi-instrumentalist Martin Grosswendt have earned steady streams of praise for their outstanding string skills. Combined, these three have earned nine Blues Music Award nominations and enjoyed rave reviews and top festival slots all over the world. And they do strum, pick and bow up a storm together as the Ragpicker String Band -- but it's their tight trio harmonies that especially dazzle. The acoustic dream team summons the spirits of everyone from the Mississippi Sheiks and Blind Boy Fuller to Jim Kweskin and R. Crumb as their voices and fingers fly through the mists back to the golden prewar age of folk-blues. Classics by the likes of Sleepy John Estes and Blind Willie Johnson -- combined with new originals by Flower and DelGrosso -- allow this virtuosic threesome to leaven their serious instrumental and vocal chops with mischievous humor. Just as Kweskin and Crumb filtered the songs and sounds of their heroes of country blues through their own modern sensibilities and considerable personalities, so do these contemporary traditionalists. Jump from a fabulously fretted, sublimely sung trip to the past like Trimmed and Burning to a laughing lament of modern times like Google Blues and you'll find out what an uncommonly fine stew of traditional and contemporary ingredients they've cooked up. They even season it with a delectable dose of jazz via a conspicuously piano-less romp through Blue Monk. DelGrosso's mandolin mastery has been dubbed the best since Yank. Add what Mary -- a two-time finalist at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship -- and Martin (One of the best fingerpickers I ever heard play -D. Bromberg) bring to the table and you know you're in for a string exhibition of the highest order. Add to that irresistible harmonies and irrepressible humor and you've got a side project worthy of the front-and-center spotlight.

The Ragpicker String Band

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Mary Flower - Misery Loves Company

Album: Misery Loves Company
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:34
Size: 106.6 MB
Styles: Roots, Acoustic blues
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[4:13] 1. Hard Day Blues
[2:45] 2. Recession Rag
[6:09] 3. Death Letter Blues
[4:27] 4. Jitters
[5:29] 5. Way Down In The Bottom
[3:12] 6. Goin' To Sit Down On The Banks Of The River
[1:50] 7. Boogie Woogie Dance
[4:02] 8. I'm Dreaming Of Your Demise
[3:27] 9. Miss Delta
[5:07] 10. Devil's Punchbowl
[4:04] 11. Shake Sugaree
[1:44] 12. Scrapper's Blues

An artist whose mastery has elevated her to the highest ranks of roots music, Mary Flower is celebrated for her instrumental skills and engaging vocal style. Her new Yellow Dog Records release, Misery Loves Company, finds Mary hosting eleven musicians who join her for a series of duets. Along with Mary’s dazzling guitar and unmatched lap steel, the record features empathetic performances from some of blues and roots music’s most accomplished practitioners.

Mary’s fourth Yellow Dog release is a stripped-down collection of a dozen songs. Calling upon the talent pool in her home town of Portland OR, she sat down with ten instrumentalists — and one singer — to make her most intimate record to date. Misery Loves Company features a staggering variety of great players, from jazz pianist Dave Frishberg to multi-instrumentalist Colin Linden. It’s a testament to Mary’s ability to bring out the best in her collaborators.

Misery Loves Company mc
Misery Loves Company zippy

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Mary Flower - Ladyfingers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:25
Size: 94.8 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues, Folk blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:33] 1. Virginia Bound
[2:10] 2. Ladyfingers
[3:40] 3. Some Cold Rainy Day
[4:01] 4. Baby Please Don't Go/Green Onions
[3:07] 5. Bluesette
[3:15] 6. Gong Down Slow
[4:24] 7. Run Sinner Run
[2:39] 8. Can't Afford To Lose My Man
[3:11] 9. Monkeys On A Binge
[4:48] 10. I Almost Lost My Mind
[4:07] 11. Yes Sir That's My Baby/I'll See You In My Dreams/Darktown Strutters Ball
[2:23] 12. Song For Samantha

Unassuming blues heroine Mary Flowers proves once again that she's one of the nation's premier fingerstyle blues guitarists on Lady Fingers. More importantly, she's made a beautifully eclectic and listenable record, which can't be said of many traditionalist outings. Though primarily a purveyor of the Piedmont blues (the Delta tradition's brighter, syncopated cousin), Flower takes flight on this record, not limiting herself to scholarly ragtime reproductions. One moment, she's getting low-down and dirty on an imaginative medley of Big Joe William's "Baby, Please Don't Go" and Booker T. Jones' "Green Onions." The next, she's delivering a torchy rendition of Toots Thielemans' jazz classic "Bluesette," followed by a country spiritual and two thoughtful original instrumentals, showing off her heavyweight chops. Memphis Minnie, Jimmie Oden, and Ivory Joe Hunter also get their due. Flower's version of Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind" is priceless, featuring harmony from Mollie O'Brien. Thoughtful accompaniment by Pat Donohue (guitar), John Magnie (accordion), and Mark Diamond (string bass) really adds to the session. Flower's technique is exceptional throughout and, in the end, serves the highest purpose -- the music. ~William Meyer

Ladyfingers

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Various - Gary Davis Style: The Legacy Of Reverend Gary Davis

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 61:02
Size: 139.7 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues, Folk, Roots
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[2:40] 1. Ari Eisinger - I'm Throwing Up My Hand
[3:11] 2. Willie Walker - South Carolina Rag
[3:06] 3. Blind Boy Fuller - Rag, Mama, Rag
[3:22] 4. Ken Whiteley & Friends - Let Us Get Together
[4:34] 5. Maria Muldaur - I Am The Light Of This World
[3:25] 6. Ernie Hawkins - Will There Be Stars In My Crown
[2:24] 7. Eric Noden - Pure Religion
[1:58] 8. Pat Conte - Devil's Dream
[4:25] 9. William Lee Ellis - I Heard The Angels Singing
[2:34] 10. Ellen Britton - United States March
[2:50] 11. Mary Flower - Sit Down On The Banks
[2:38] 12. John Cephas & Phil Wiggins - Twelve Gates To The City
[3:14] 13. Ian Buchanin With The Otis Brothers - Hesitation Blues
[2:26] 14. Perry Lederman - Gary Davis Style
[2:23] 15. Peter, Paul And Mary - Samson & Delilah I
[2:23] 16. Mitch Greenhill & Mayne Smith - Samson & Delilah Ii
[3:51] 17. Penny Lang & Freinds - God Knows How Much We Can Bear
[2:53] 18. Jerry Ricks - Where'd You Get Your Liquor From Hesitation Blues
[2:59] 19. Dave Van Ronk & Freinds - Soon My Work Will All Be Done
[3:38] 20. Rick Ruskin - I Will Do My Last Singing In This Land

This project started as an attempt to celebrate the centenary of Rev. Gary Davis's birth, but turned into something more like herding cats. We now present to you twenty musical examples that include his early Greenville partner, Willie Walker, from whom Blind Gary undoubtly learned a few tricks; his earliest known student, Blind Boy Fuller, whose commercial success virtually transformed the post-depression blues world; and eighteen recent entries, who were either students of his, or who were taught by someone who was.

The people on this CD are intened to be representative, but not exhaustive. This is because Rev. Davis was as much a teacher as he was a player, and he taught whomsoever presented themselves to be taught, for however long they were in his presence. If we had an unlimited budget and all the CDs in the world, we could present ten times as many people. When I first saw Davis in 1963, I flipped, I would assume the same holds true for all the performers whose works are reproduced here.

Half the numbers were taken from existing CDs, including the two 78s. The other half were newly minted by the performers, and may turn up on their own CDs as time goes on. An effort was made to be as inclusive as possible: we have male and female, black and white, gentle and Jew, Canadian and American, and while most of the performers are living, some have followed Rev. Davis from this vale tears. Rev. Davis did not discriminate. His influence was broad, far reaching and lifelong. But most of all, it was personal. Of the twenty performers on this recording, the majority knew him well, a couple knew him peripherally, and the remainder would have sought him out had they had the chance. ~Andy Cohen

Gary Davis Style: The Legacy Of Reverend Gary Davis

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Mary Flower - Bywater Dance

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 50:19
Size: 115.2 MB
Styles: Folk-blues
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:05] 1. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me
[3:21] 2. Raise The Devil
[2:45] 3. Crow Jane
[3:56] 4. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
[2:38] 5. La Grippe
[3:17] 6. Last Kind Word Blues
[3:39] 7. Terminal Rag
[4:17] 8. Brother Can You Spare A Dime
[3:48] 9. Papa's On The Housetop
[4:50] 10. Hudson River Rag
[3:29] 11. Nobody's Fault But Mine
[4:14] 12. Main Street Blues
[2:54] 13. Built Right On The Ground
[2:59] 14. Good News Waltz

t's not just that Mary Flower fingerpicks an elegantly mean fingerstyle blues, ragtime, and jazz guitar. And it's not just the gentle, controlled warmth of her voice. There's something else special going on here, and it may have to do with the fact that she traveled from her home base of Portland to a studio on the south end of New Orleans to make this record, and was joined in the process by such local A-listers as Henry Butler (piano), Jon Cleary (piano, organ), and Dr. Michael White (clarinet). The music that came out of these sessions is unfailingly sweet, hot, and sassy -- not a single track fails to impress and several are deeply moving. Her rendition of "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" is brilliant, and her original guitar composition "La Grippe" is both subtly complex and viscerally exciting. Check out the wonderful brass band accompaniment that fills up the space behind her guitar on "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" and Cleary's spooky Hammond organ on the dark "Last Kind Word Blues." But every track on this album has something about it that will give you shivers, and taken as a whole this is one of the most satisfying albums of the year. ~Rick Anderson

Bywater Dance

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