JAYME STONE’S FOLKLIFE
Jayme Stone’s Folklife
Borealis Records
A little over two years ago, the masterful banjo player Jayme Stone released Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project, an superb album in which he and a revolving
cast of singers and musicians reimagined 19 songs – mostly traditional
folksongs – that had been collected by legendary folklorist Alan Lomax (1915-2002) over a period of
many years. As I noted in my review, “it is an extraordinary collection at once
timeless, traditional and utterly contemporary.”
Although the CD featured different musicians and singers on
different tracks Jayme worked with more focused smaller groups when taking the
Lomax Project out on the road. The superb Lomax Project concert that I got to
see and hear – March 16, 2016 in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre Fourth
Stage – featured Jayme with primary lead singer and accordionist Moira Smiley, bassist Joe Phillips and fiddler Sumaia Jackson. Moira and Joe had each
appeared on about a third of the tracks on Jayme
Stone’s Lomax Project while Sumaia was recruited sometime after the recording
was completed.
While I went into that concert wondering if Jayme, Moira, Joe and
Sumaia would be credible performing the often complex arrangements that had
been played by other combinations of musicians on the CD, it was quickly
obvious that the four had formed a wonderful, tight performing unit. It was one
of the finest concerts I’ve seen in recent years.
Jayme Stone’s Folklife is the follow-up to the Lomax Project CD. At about 43 minutes and
10 songs it’s a shorter CD than the first one (which had 19 songs and clocked
in at 66 minutes). But it’s a tighter, more focused group with nine of the 10
songs featuring the core group of Jayme, Moira, Joe and Sumaia – sometimes augmented
by drummer Nick Fraser and/or
harmony singers Felicity Williams
and Denzel Sinclaire. And although most
of the songs come from Lomax field recordings, there are a couple here that
came through other collectors.
Although each of these tracks is a terrific performance highlighted
by great playing and Moira’s charismatic lead vocals, a few of my very
favorites include “Mwen Pas Danse” with its bouncy, breezy Caribbean rhythms; “Hey,
Lally Lally Lo,” which I learned at summer camp in the 1960s as a singalong
song that we’d improvise verses to, but which Moira turns into a sexy torch
song; and the a cappella finale, “Wait on the Rising Sun,” with Moira’s lead
vocals supported by Jayme, Sumaia, Joe, Felicity and Denzel in glorious
harmonies.
“Buttermilk” is the only song on Jayme
Stone’s Folklife not to feature the core musicians. On this song Jayme, on
banjo, is joined by Dom Flemons who
sings and plays guitar and quills (a panpipe flute made from cane reeds) and
jazz musician Ron Miles on cornet.
It’s a delightful, energetic performance on which you can also hear percussive
bones playing – I assume by Dom who I’ve seen play them during his days with
the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
As I said about Jayme Stone's Lomax Project, this album is “an extraordinary collection at once timeless, traditional and utterly contemporary.”
As I said about Jayme Stone's Lomax Project, this album is “an extraordinary collection at once timeless, traditional and utterly contemporary.”
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