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| Played a Little Fiddle | 
 enlarge | Artists: Stefan Grossman, Danny Kalb, Steve Katz
Label: Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop
Category: Music
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $7.86
You Save: $10.13 (56%)
Buy New/Used from $6.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  (1 reviews)
Sales Rank: 185746
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 725543170224
EAN: 0725543170224
ASIN: B000SUHL6S
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Played a Little Fiddle | | • | Old Country Rock | | • | Richland Woman Blues | | • | Long Distance Call | | • | Shuffle Rag | | • | Green, Green Rocky Road | | • | Candyman Fantasia | | • | Kettle of Fish | | • | Living in the Country | | • | Buddy Bolden Blues | | • | Mississippi Blues | | • | Medley: Katz Rag/My Creole Belle | | • | Rising of the Midnight Sun | | • | Southbound Train | | • | Glory of Love |
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| Customer Reviews:
Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? December 20, 2007
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
Kalb, Katz & Grossman revisit the age-old question: "Can white men sing the blues?"
Admittedly Jews have done a lot for blues music and folk music and for black music generally. Typically they do more for it when they manage, promote and own recording companies than when they try to perform it. Case in point: this particular CD. This is a wonderful collection of tunes. While it is good that someone is keeping this music alive and it's wonderuful to have these songs collected and performed together on one CD - there is much to be desired in the delivery and interpretation.
These musicians all have passable technical skills on their instruments and they obviously have a great deal of affection for the material. However they would benefit if once in a while they would check in with the source material to study vocal delivery, especially timing, phrasing and syncopation. Or maybe to just get the lyrics right. What can be the excuse for the mess made here of "Richland Woman Blues"? This delivery sounds like someone reading the lyrics from a printed page for the first time. It certainly wouldn't hurt and would probably help if someone in this little circle had taken a few minutes to listen to Mississippi John Hurt's (who wrote it) recording of this song. They would certainly have learned a little something about music.
No, I am not suggesting these perfomers should "imitate" black blues singers. I am suggesting they shut up and listen to the original versions of these songs with an ear for what makes them great. Listen to the subtle timing and phrasing decisions that were made in the deivery of lyrics. The vocalist does not always come in ON the beat. Sometimes the emphasis shifts to other beats in the measure. Learn to hang back, retard... No that's not an insult - a musician knows what that means - or "should" know...?
As I said - it IS nice to have this collection on one disk - but some more work is needed on the vocal delivery. These songs have survived because they are enjoyed and valued by musicians and fans of American music. They deserve to be played, enyoyed and treasured. These versions are "okay" however their interpretation here is just a tad diminished for lack of adequate attention to detail. Nice effort. Heart in the right place. And ALL that. The actual realization "could have been better." A lot better.
Rule one for singers: "If you can't hit the notes, at least try to get the words right". Hmm? Please!
It's a C+ effort. (And to the wise guy in the back row who just cat called: "like to see you do better!" I say: "I can do better, way better, lots of folks can." "They jus ain't no 'scuse for this, ya hear?!"
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