Micah Blue Smaldone - Some Sweet Day
(Hyla-Phone)
Leon Redbone meets The Charlatans for a collection of olde tyme banjo tunes delivered like Al Jolson leading the New Vaudeville Band. It may take a couple of tracks to realize that Smaldone is deadly serious and this is not an elaborate prank to move product to the octogenarian set! However, when one imagines the money to be made monopolizing the retirement home circuit... nah!
From the yodel-ay-ee-hoo on the title track to the extremely fine picking on the "Blind Boy" and "Pine Needle" rags, Smaldone offers an entertaining history lesson in the popular musical stylings of the Roarin' 20s, made all the more brilliant by the fact that these are all contemporary recordings meticulously mimicking the vocal techniques of that bygone era. His banjo sings like a ukulele, leaving the listener with the feeling that he or she is experiencing Tiny Tim guesting at a Flatt & Scruggs bluegrass revival.
The catchy, walking melody on the "Pine Needle Rag" is also an excellent finger exercise for musicians new to the instrument, and "A Sunny Place (for Shady People)" is another wonderful instrumental with that old "Classical Gas" vibe. Pleasant enough, but I'm not sure the world is ready for a banjo album. However, I can recommend this to folks who miss Leon Redbone, Flatt & Scruggs, and Bob Buckingham & Todd Clewell, as well as bluegrass and ukulele fans, little old ladies from Pasadena and sweet old grannies everywhere.
|
