JANE
VOSS & HOYLE OSBORNE
Never
No More Blues; Get to the Heart; Pullin’ Through
Ripple
Recordings
Jane
Voss & Hoyle Osborne, who have been making great music together for 35 or so years have
just released a fabulous new album, Never
No More Blues, and have also recently reissued two of their earliest LPs, Get to the Heart and Pullin’ Through, which I don’t believe
have ever been on CD before.
Never
No More Blues is an absolutely sublime set of songs
and tunes dating from the early days of classic blues, jazz, ragtime and country
music – many of them showing the extent to which musical styles and influences
were already blending in the early decades of the last century.
With 17 tracks stretching more than 77
minutes, it’s a very full set with nary a wasted moment. Jane is a great blues
singer and does wonderful interpretations of such tunes as Ma Rainey’s “Farewell Daddy Blues,” Alberta Hunter’s “Downhearted Blues” and a version of “Blues (My
Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me),” based on a 1919 version by Esther Walker, a slower, very different version than the one popularized
in the ‘60s by Jim Kweskin & the Jug
Band.
Some of my favorites in the set include Elizabeth Cotten’s “(That’s Why) I’m
Going Away,” which Jane sings with a gentle country lilt; Jimmie Rodger’s “Drunken Bar Room Blues,” in which the blues and
early country music collide (I’ve always heard this song as a relative of “St.
James Infirmary”); “Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!” a Depression-era song that
lampooned the efforts of popular culture of the day to get people’s minds off
their troubles; and “Leaving Home,” a version of “Frankie and Johnny” recorded
by Charlie Poole in 1926.
Jane (lead vocals and guitar) and Hoyle (piano,
vocals and guitar) are joined throughout the album by The Blue Blazes, a stellar group that includes fiddler Suzy Thompson, guitarists Eric Thompson and Tony Marcus, both of whom also play mandolin and banjo, and bassist
Stuart Brotman, who also plays tuba.
The Blue Blazes are heard to great effect
on three terrific instrumentals built around Hoyle’s formidable skills playing
ragtime and jazz piano. “St. Louis Tickle,” adapted for the guitar by Dave Van Ronk, is returned to pianistic
roots. “Ape Man,” written by pianist Jimmy
Blythe is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, while the extended version
of William H. Tyers’ 1911
composition, “Panama (A Characteristic Novelty),” is sweet and lovely.
Jane and Hoyle’s first album as a duo, Get to the Heart, originally released
back in 1981, was one of my favorite LPs of the day. The album opens with Jane’s,
“Gateway Blues (Blues for Bessie), an infectious and unforgettable tribute to Bessie Smith, and continues with a mix
of original and borrowed tunes including Hoyle’s “Salamander Shuffle,” a wonderful
piano instrumental; Jane’s title track, which explains all the right reasons
for singing and playing music; and Larry
Clinton’s “The Devil with the Devil,” a swinging, personal declaration of
independence.
Their second album, Pullin’ Through from 1983, includes more of the (equally great)
same with a mix of old tunes like Memphis
Minnie’s “In My Girlish Days” and “I’m Pulling Through,” a jazz ballad
recorded by Billie Holiday, with in-the-tradition
originals like Jane’s “Good-for-Nothin’ Blues” and “I’ve Been on the Road Too Long.”
Pullin’
Through also includes several great songs dating from
the 1970s folk scene. These include Malvina
Reynolds’ “On the Rim of the World,” a sad, compelling portrait of a
homeless young girl; Tommy Thompson’s
“Hot Buttered Rum,” a dreary-but-lovely love song set in the dead of winter;
and Bob Bossin’s “Show Us the
Length,” a hilarious response to high school beauty pageant culture. The latter
is one of two bonus tracks on the CD reissue that were originally released on a
45-rpm single in 1983.
I will indulge myself with a personal
reminisce of one of those songs. In 1973, I produced a double-bill concert at Dawson College in Montreal with Malvina and Bruce “Utah”
Phillips. Before the concert, Malvina asked me for some tape so she could
tape the lyrics to a new song she’d written that day to the mic stand. So I
produced the world premiere performance of “On the Rim of the World.”
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--Mike
Regenstreif
