Here are my picks for the Top 17
folk-rooted or folk-branched albums of 2017. As in past years, I started with
the list of hundreds of albums that landed on my desk over the past year and
narrowed it down to a short list of about 30. I’ve been over the short list
several times over the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar –
not identical – Top 17 lists. As I’m about to take a break from blogging until
January, today’s list is the final one. The order might have been slightly
different, and there are several other worthy albums that might have been
included, had one of the other lists represented the final choice. Note: A couple of these albums were
actually released in late-2016 but I only heard them for the first time in January
2017.
1. Various Artists – Woody Guthrie: The Tribute Concerts – Carnegie Hall 1968, Hollywood
Bowl 1970 (Bear Family Records). This magnificent set of three CDs and two
stunning coffee-table-sized hardcover books document the Woody Guthrie tribute
concerts held in 1968 at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl in 1970
featuring such artists as Bob Dylan,
Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins,
Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, Odetta, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Richie Havens and others. There are
many performances not included in the original LP release and CD reissue and
the sequencing has been arranged to reflect the actual concerts rather than a
hybrid of the two as on the LPs.
2. Tom Russell – Folk Hotel (Frontera Records). The songs on Folk Hotel provide more examples of why I’ve long considered Tom Russell to be the finest songwriter of the generation that came after Bob Dylan (the only non-original is a
definitive interpretation of Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” sung as a
duet with Joe Ely). Tom’s songs are
rich with stories and characters that come vividly to life.
3. Various Artists – Big Bend
Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition (Great Smoky Mountain Association).
Big Bend Killing:
The Appalachian Ballad Tradition is a compelling
2-CD exploration of traditional folksongs found in the Appalachian Mountains –
some of them well-known, some of them more obscure. Likewise some of the
artists – including Rosanne Cash, Archie Fisher and Alice Gerrard are well-known and some not, including both
contemporary members of traditional singing families and revivalists. Each of
the 32 performances – 31 of them previously unreleased and most recorded
specifically for this project – on Big
Bend Killing is performed with both reverence for tradition and compelling
vitality.
4. Various
Artists – Tribute
to the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels (Rosalie Sorrels Tribute). As Eliza Gilkyson writes in the notes to
her track on the 4-CD, 44-song Tribute to
the Travelin’ Lady Rosalie Sorrels, “Any folksinger of my generation must
claim Rosalie Sorrels as a foundational influence.” At least two years in the
making, most of the songs were written by Rosalie. A few others were songs from
her vast repertoire, two – including Tom
Russell’s “Pork Roast and Poetry” – were written in tribute to her, and a
couple are original songs by the late Guy
Clark and the late Jimmy LaFave
that I can easily imagine hearing Rosalie do.
5. Tom Russell – Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North Records). Ian & Sylvia – Ian Tyson and Sylvia
Tyson – were a huge influence on the young Tom Russell. As a songwriter, Tom has collaborated with both Ian
and Sylvia and on Play One More: The
Songs of Ian & Sylvia, he offers a remarkable tribute to Ian’s and
Sylvia’s songwriting with eight songs from the Ian & Sylvia years (the
1960s and early-‘70s) and two more each from their solo years (including one of
Tom’s co-writes with each of them).
6. The Klezmatics – Apikorsim/Heretics (World Village). Apikorsim/Heretics is a return to the kind of progressive Jewish
cultural albums the Klezmatics were
making in the first half of their now 30-year history: superb material drawn
from both traditional sources and their own imaginations matched by
brilliant singing and playing. In some ways, it’s an album of contrasts. On the
one hand, there are songs which express religious concepts which could be
embraced by the most fervently Orthodox Jews. On the other hand, there are
songs which celebrate a completely secular lifestyle that rejects all of the
restrictions of an Orthodox – or even moderately religious – lifestyle.
7. Jayme Stone – Jayme Stone’s Folklife (Borealis
Records). Jayme Stone’s Folklife is
the follow-up to Jayme Stone’s Lomax
Project. 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 Stone, Moira Smiley, Joe Phillips
and Sumaia Jackson – sometimes
augmented by drummer Nick Fraser
and/or harmony singers Felicity Williams
and Denzel Sinclaire. The other song
features Jayme with Dom Flemons and Ron Miles.
8. Too Sad for the Public – Vol. 1 – Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade: American
Folk Fantasies Written and Arranged by Dick Connette (StorySound
Records). For 20 years, since the release of the first CD by Last Forever, I’ve greatly admired the
work of composer/songwriter/producer Dick
Connette. Much of the material on Vol. 1 – Oysters Ice Cream Lemonade: American Folk Fantasies Written and
Arranged by Dick Connette, his new project – recorded under the group
name ‘Too Sad for the Public’ – continues in the vein of Last Forever with
original songs based on traditional themes and a couple of fascinating covers
of pop songs. The lead vocals are in the capable hands of Suzzy Roche (four songs), Rachelle
Garniez (one song), Ana Egge
(two songs) and Gabriel Kahane (one
song) – and there are also several go-go instrumentals recorded as a tribute to
the late Chuck Brown.
9. Eric Bibb – Migration Blues (Stony Plain Records). Migration Blues, a topical
and timely set of songs about the migration of peoples and individuals – from
country to country or place to place – is one of the prolific Eric Bibb’s most powerful and
compelling collections. This is an intimate recording. In addition to Eric, who
variously plays various guitars and six-string banjo, the core musicians are
multi-instrumentalist Michael Jerome
Browne of Montreal on various banjos, various guitars, fiddle and mandolin;
and harmonica master JJ Milteau of
France. The three virtuoso musicians – whether all three or two at a time – are
a seamless unit.
10. Moore
& McGregor – Dream with Me (Ivernia Records). Dream with Me by Moore &
McGregor – veteran musicians Wendy
Moore (harp, oboe, English horn, pennywhistle, vocals) and Arthur McGregor (guitar, banjo,
bodhran, and most of the lead vocals) – is a marvelous debut album of songs and
tunes by a duo who have long worked together (often performing kids’ shows as
the Celtic Rathskallions) that
includes superb original songs by Arthur, traditional Celtic tunes, and several
excellent songs drawn from other writers.
11. Orit Shimoni – Songs
for My Father (Orit Shimoni). While
Israeli-Canadian singer-songwriter Orit
Shimoni’s previous albums have primarily been original songs in English,
she decided to record an album of the Israeli folksongs she grew up with as a
gift for her father on his 70th birthday. Songs for My Father is a
lovely, quiet, often thought-provoking collection.
12. Tom Paxton – Boat in the Water (Pax Records). Now 80,
legendary folksinger and songwriter Tom
Paxton remains a vital artist. On Boat
in the Water, Tom offers eight new songs and new versions of five of his
classics from the 1960s and ‘70s all delivered from the perspective of wisdom
and experience – whether they are songs reflecting his own life or reflecting
the lives of characters created from his (and his co-writers’) creative
imagination(s).
13. Bruce Cockburn – Bone On Bone (True North). Bone On Bone, Bruce Cockburn’s first new album in
more than six years, is a compelling set of personal, often spiritual, songs
that touches folk, rock, blues, jazz and gospel bases.
14. Guy
Davis & Fabrizio Poggi – Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train (M.C. Records). On Sonny &
Brownie’s Last Train, Guy Davis,
one of the finest blues artists of my generation, combines with the excellent
Italian harmonica player Fabrizio Poggi
for a loving homage to the inspiring folk-blues masters Sonny Terry and Brownie
McGhee. Guy and Fabrizio include several of Sonny and Brownie’s original
songs and a bunch of other songs drawn from their extensive repertoire.
15. Jim Kweskin – Unjugged
(Hornbeam Recordings) On Unjugged,
a new album recorded in England, the masterful folk legend Jim Kweskin offers a delightful hour-long set of folk,
blues and novelty songs. Even though these are familiar songs, Jim’s interpretations
make them all sound fresh. The album’s title refers to the fact that he’s
playing without his colleagues from the renowned 1960s-era jug band that bore
his name. (In fact, Jim has made many more albums on his own – and in other
collaborations – than he did with Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band.)
16. Duke Robillard – Duke
Robillard and his Dames of Rhythm (M.C. Records). Of
all of Duke Robillard’s many and
varied recordings, my favorites are his swing and jazz albums. And the
constantly delightful Duke Robillard and
his Dames of Rhythm may well be his best swing and jazz album yet. Duke
plays acoustic archtop guitar throughout the 15 tracks and sings lead on three
songs – and duets with Sunny Crownover (of
Sunny and her Joy Boys fame) on another. There are absolutely fantastic rhythm
and horn sections (including my old friend Billy
Novick on clarinet and alto sax) and most of the lead vocals are handled by
rotating cast of extraordinary Dames of Rhythm: the aforementioned Sunny
Crownover, Maria Muldaur, Kelley Hunt, Madeleine Peyroux, Catherine
Russell, and Elizabeth McGovern.
17. Julian Fauth – The Weak
and the Wicked, the Hard and the Strong (Electro-Fi Records) Most of the 14
songs on Toronto-based singer and pianist Julian
Fauth’s The Weak and the Wicked, the
Hard and the Strong are
creatively reimagined versions of well-known blues and folksongs like “John
Henry,” “Betty and Dupree,” and even Bob
Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
--Mike Regenstreif
