Jenny Whiteley -- Forgive or Forget

JENNY WHITELEY
Forgive or Forget
Black Hen
jennywhiteley.com

Forgive or Forget, Jenny Whiteley’s fourth solo album – she started her career as one of the lead singers in Heartbreak Hill, a bluegrass band – is a quiet, subtle record filled with songs that examine love and relationships from a variety of angles.

Jenny opens the album with a melancholy, but sweet, version of “Raining In My Heart,” a Felice and Boudleaux Bryant song first recorded more than half a century ago by Buddy Holly. It’s the album’s only cover tune, the rest of the songs were either written or co-written by Jenny.

Among my favourite tracks are “Cold, Cold Kisses,” which almost seems like it could be a Hank Williams song; “Truth and the Eyes of the Dead,” featuring some truly haunting guitar playing by producer Steve Dawson, in which the narrator advises someone to “get out while you can” because it just ain’t gonna happen; and “Ripple Effect,” one of the few upbeat songs in the set and one of a couple that features harmonies from Tim O’Brien, one of my favourite singers for many years.

Jenny’s first two albums won Juno Awards for Solo Roots/Traditional Album of the Year. Those awards set high expectations for her subsequent recordings, expectations that Forgive or Forget meets or exceeds.

Among Jenny’s upcoming concert dates are shows at Divan Orange in Montreal on March 27 (Rob Lutes shares the bill) and the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, QC near Ottawa on March 28.

--Mike Regenstreif

Various artists -- Things About Comin' My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Things About Comin’ My Way: A tribute to the music of the Mississippi Sheiks
Black Hen
blackhenmusic.com

One of the nice things about being my age is that as a young folkie, I had opportunities to see, in some cases meet, and, in a few cases, even work with, some of the legendary first generation recording artists whose music so influenced everything that came after. One of the artists I got to work with in 1974 as an area co-ordinator (stage manager) at the Mariposa Folk Festival was Sam Chatman, who I believe was about 77 or 78 years old at the time.

Back in the 1920s and ‘30s –- in addition to being a solo blues artist –- Sam often performed and recorded as a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, one of the great African-American string bands. Their biggest hit was “Sitting On Top of the World,” a song that has since become a standard in blues, bluegrass, western swing, folk and even rock repertoires. Sam had one of the most-lined faces I’ve ever seen, but there was so much musical history etched inside each and every one of those lines.

When I met Sam Chatman, he was 35 or 40 years removed from the heyday of the Mississippi Sheiks. And, now, 35 years after that, comes this excellent tribute featuring various artists interpreting 17 of their songs in their own individualistic ways.

I like almost all of these interpretations but some of my favourite tracks include a cool version of “Honey Babe Let the Deal Go Down” by Bruce Cockburn that begins with some great fingerpicking blues patterns and builds into a Preservation Hall-style arrangement highlighted by William Carn’s trombone; Del Rey’s take on “We Are Both Feeling Good Right Now,” featuring her goodtime vocals and her ragtime guitar playing interacting with a choir of three clarinets; an arrangement of “The World is Going Wrong,” by Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Sheiks that recalls Geoff’s days in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band; and a faithful version of “Sitting On Top of the World,” by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a great trio at the forefront of the revival in African American stringband music.

Other highlights include tracks by Madeleine Peyroux, John Hammond, the Sojourners, Kelly Joe Phelps and producer Steve Dawson.

--Mike Regenstreif