Lory Hess penned this review.
If John Jacob Niles is just a name to you–perhaps most famously attached to the haunting carol “I Wonder as I Wander”–then listening to this recording will make him into a Voice. And I mean that capital V. Niles’ singing, in a high male alto which he adopted for its “electric effect” on audiences, certainly is extraordinary. A trained musician who at one time sang with the Chicago Lyric Opera, he combines flawless pitch and a piercingly true tone with an inventive approach to vowels and consonants, drawling, moaning, and swooping his way through this set of Christmas carols and love songs collected or created in the American folk idiom.
Niles must indeed have been electrifying to hear in person. Today, now that this classic recording has finally been remastered and released on CD, we too have a chance to (digitally) experience one of the greatest collectors, arrangers, and composers of American folk music, especially that of the Appalachian region. As well as the title track, the 18 songs on I Wonder as I Wander include “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” “I Had a Cat,” “Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head,” and “Go ‘way From My Window” and each one has a story attached to it, a story which often reveals that the folk tradition got some help from Niles. For instance, did you know that the now-traditional melody of “Black is the Color…” was composed by him because he simply couldn’t stand the “real” one? And “I Wonder as I Wander” was merely a three-line fragment sung by a vagrant girl in North Carolina in 1933, until Niles got a hold of it.
Some may criticize Niles for such tampering with history, but since he fully discloses his sources and contributions in the fascinating liner notes of this album, he can’t really be accused of trying to deceive anyone. Can one fault him for being such a brilliant and loving student of his chosen tradition that he was able to create it anew? Listen to I Wonder as I Wander, and you’ll hear history in the making.
(Tradition/Empire Musicwerks, 1957)
