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THOMAS FRASER
You And My Old Guitar
Nel Music Da Da 2
Here's another wonderful selection of cuts from the recordings of the late Thomas Fraser, Shetland country and blues singer extraordinaire. Since Long Gone Lonesome Blues was released in November 2002, more tapes have been discovered in attics and spare rooms and this CD contains some of the new material alongside tracks from the family collection.
As Fraser's grandson Karl Simpson, the project's curator, says in the sleeve notes, "The sounds taped all those years ago at Setter cut through time like a knife." It's impossible to overstate the sense of authentic musicality in these recordings. Passionately absorbing the music he heard via US forces radio in the 1940s, Fraser's own singing faithfully captured the genre, and particularly his major hero Jimmie Rodgers, distilled through his own cultural background on the isolated island. In amongst the covers is a reel or two played on his first love, the fiddle. Apparently this terminally shy man, when warmed by a few drinks, would play the instrument behind his back. An early Shetland Hendrix!
There's another good chunk of Rodgers' material here including two of his famous Blue Yodels. Fraser could deliver a blues with gutsy attack, yodel the cows home, or sweetly croon a love song, all with guitar picking that's likewise flexible and evocative. From 25 great tracks, Away Out On The Mountain is a standout for the laughter you can hear in his voice and the burbly little yodel near the end - pure feelgood factor - as is Unwanted Sign On My Heart, accompanied by wife Phyllis on guitar.
What began as one unassuming man's all-consuming hobby is rapidly becoming a minor cult, and rightly so. A presentation on Fraser's music will be delivered at the International Country Music Conference in Nashville next spring. Buy the CD and you'll see why.
Mel McClellan - December 2003
See also:
Review of Long Gone Lonesome Blues.
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Folk & Acoustic
