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| (Out Now) |
Folk
Singer Vol.1 by Willie Watson
Sometimes
I feel almost guilty writing about music that I fall for straight from the
start. Willie Watson’s debut solo album “Folk Singer Vol.1″ is an album that I
as a musician can relate to quite a lot. It’s just a man with his guitar, five
string banjo, voice and songs. Bare bones and raw.
There
is some lovely use of reverb on the album, but what I love is the presence in
the guitar and banjo. You almost feel like Mr. Watson is playing in the room
with you. Also his skill in the instruments shows not only in what he plays,
but also in what he doesn’t. Obviously very skilled player, but that never gets
on the way of the song. The opening track of the album “Midnight Special”, and
old American folk song thought to have originated from the prisoners in the
American south, is a great example of this with its sparse guitar, which is
there, only to support the vocals that could carry the song on its own. His
voice is stunning, and it links these traditional American folk and blues songs
to our modern world. Good example of Willies relaxed banjo backing can be heard
in “Stewball,” an old folk song that roots in Ireland, but was adapted and sung
by the slaves in the South. My personal favourite (at the moment) is “Rock Salt
And Nails” written by Utah Phillips, broken love lament.
Willie
Watson was a one of the founders and a longtime member of The Old Crow Medicine
Show, who are definitely big part of the so called “folk revival” of the past
ten years (how do you revive something that never went away in the first
place?). I can relate to how working in a band like that is a great school to
polish your craft and that is just what Willie has done. His debut album will
definitely establish him as a solo artist and as the tittle hints there might
be a followup to “Folk Singer Vol.1″.
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