I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to feature some of my favourite albums that the 2 (maybe 3!) people that read this blog (when I tell them to) might not otherwise listen to.
I'm going to start with Harry Manx. It seemed like a good place to start, since he's playing at the Montreal Jazz Fest this year. Harry Manx is a blues/folk musician from B.C., but that's not the fun part (well, it kind of is). He was born on the Isle of Man (so presumably the name "Manx" is not his real name, but I don't know for sure) and moved to Canada when he was young. In the 1970s he moved to Europe and toured around, and several years later he moved to Japan and played there for 10 years. While he was in Japan he heard a recording of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who is an Indian slide guitarist. Bhatt himself is quite an amazing musician, having worked with Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Bela Fleck and many others. Bhatt's Hindustani classical music caught Manx's attention and he moved to India to study with him. Now Harry's music reflects both a western blues and eastern classical tradition. Cool. Anyway...
This album itself starts out with the mournfully bluesy "Nine Summers Lost" and holds the somber tone through most of the album. The Indian influence pops in noticeably in the second song, "True to Yourself" with traditional vocals and heavy use of Indian instruments alongside the slide guitar. From there on it seems to blend more evenly and the whole thing feels really natural. There is some interesting country elements that pop in now and again, but really, trying to fit this album into a genre really isn't fair.
Here are some YouTube videos of some of my favourite songs on the album:
Dew on Roses:
Love is the fire:
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