Take three musicians, each one a virtuoso on his instrument, plus one of them who is no mean singer; record them live in a couple of great sessions entertaining an audience. The adrenalin starts to pump and brings out that little bit extra from each performer, and that’s just about what you hear on this album. This is one of the finest ‘live’ performance recordings I have heard for a long time. Each of the performers are obviously comfortable with other two, and produce a sound that might make you swear that there are more than just three of them up there on the stage. Darrell Scott may be more readily recognised, as a songwriter of many country & western songs that have been recorded by most of the big name artists, and this alone should earn Darrell a place in the hall of fame.
Make no mistake about it; Darrell Scott is a great singer and handles all the vocals, as well as playing some wicked accompaniments on his guitar. Indeed, he ranks among such artists as Richard Thompson, Albert Lee, and Eric Clapton, to name but a few. Danny Thompson stands alongside of him playing a spectacular upright bass and along with some superb drumming from Kenny Malone, they really gel together. It’s not folk music, more what I call funky country blues / acoustic rock. However, call it what you like, but it still makes damn good listening – and will be enjoyed by country or folk music fans alike.
As a musician, Darrell is already a veteran, and can be heard on over twenty other assorted albums. This album was recorded in 2003 from two nights in North Carolina at Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem and Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. The album contains a mixture of material with nine tracks. Most are written or co-written by Darrell with Wayne Scott except for four tracks, two of which, ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and ‘I Still Miss Someone’, were written by Johnny Cash. At track two you find ‘It’s The Whiskey That Eases The Pain’, written by Wayne Scott. It’s hard to single out the best track on the album, but my choice fell on the great treatment Darrell gives to ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, which is teamed with Townes Van Zandt’s ‘White Freightliner Blues’ to run for over ten minutes and is one the most imaginative arrangements I’ve heard. The album closes with a nice arrangement of the traditional song ‘Wayfaring Pilgrim’.
Throughout the album, to add light and shade, they demonstrate that this trio is equally at home using acoustic instruments as electric.
I have to recommend strongly that you get this album, as it is one of the masterpieces that will sit in my library for a long time – that is, if I can stop some pest from borrowing it! Get your own copy!
(Full Light Records, 2004)
