[FM] FAME Review: Martin Simpson - Prodigal Son written by Roberta B. Schwartz

[David N. Pyles]

Prodigal Son
Martin Simpson
http://www.martinsimpson.com/
Compass Records - 7-4466-2

Compass Records Group
916 19th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
http://www.compassrecords.com/

Available from Martin Simpson's web site.
http://www.martinsimpson.com/shop/

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Roberta B. 
Schwartz (rschwart at bowdoin.edu)

Anyone who has been around independently produced acoustic music for the 
past twenty years has certainly heard the name Martin Simpson. Like 
others, I have seen his name listed as a performer at concert venues and 
folk festivals, but have not been lucky enough to attend one of his live 
performances. And so it was with great anticipation that I chose to 
listen to and review Simpson's latest effort, "Prodigal Son." I 
immediately learned why Simpson's name is always mentioned as one of the 
best acoustic musicians around. He clearly admires, follows and has 
learned from the acoustic folk and Celtic traditions of the UK. But then 
he marries that sound to some of the great music coming out of the 
African American tradition, as well as the music of such late twentieth 
century greats as Bob Dylan and Richard Thompson. Mix in the fact that 
he is an exceptionally gifted guitarist. The result is a perfectly 
self-produced CD that makes you sit up and listen.

 From the very first cut it's clear that we're in the presence of a 
first-rate guitarist. "Bachelor's Hall" begins with a beautifully 
rendered instrumental introduction before launching into the lyrics. 
While it is a traditional folk song, Simpson shares something here with 
one of our best folk interpreters, Carol Noonan. He has the uncanny 
ability to make everything he sings sound contemporary, immediate and 
new. We have all heard hundreds of songs, especially in the traditional 
folk genre, about boy losing girl and becoming despondent. Simpson 
offers a new window on love and loss.

"Pretty Crowing Chicken" is a mesmerizing instrumental featuring Simpson 
on a gorgeous sounding 5-string banjo and Andy Cutting on accordion. I'm 
sure that listening to it for the first time on a cold, rainy day 
contributed, but I had goose bumps listening to this piece. It's a beauty.

The moving instrumental "She Slips Away" was written by Simpson on the 
afternoon before his mother died, according to the liner notes. Both 
slow and melancholy, it resonates with deep feeling and perhaps a touch 
of regret.

I love "A Love Letter," a mature look at love cultivated over many years.

Simpson wrote "Never Any Good" about his father. It paints a portrait of 
a man with many sides, and a son with conflicted feelings about that 
man. There is great pain here as well as recognition that the father has 
passed on some useful things to the son. I think I like this wise and 
simple song most of all.

But I can't bring this review to a close without mentioning Simpson's 
superb version of Randy Newman's poignant "Louisiana 1927" about the 
1927 flood which echoes the ravages left behind by the recent Hurricane 
Katrina. "They are trying to wash us away, wash us away," indeed.

Martin Simpson is a musician's musician, a guitarist's guitarist and a 
songwriter's songwriter. He is also a master interpreter of both 
traditional folk and contemporary songs. Simpson's "Prodigal Son" got me 
through a miserable night of wind and rain; a nor'easter of a storm. I 
know that I can rely on him to produce music that I want to listen to; 
music that will last over time. "Prodigal Son" is a contemporary classic 
-- something to marvel at, cherish and listen to time and again.

Track List:

Batchelor's Hall (Dick Connette)
Pretty Crowing Chicken (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
Lakes of Champlain (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
She Slips Away (M. Simpson)
The Granemore Hare (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
Mother Love (M. Simpson)
Little Musgrave (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
A Love Letter (M. Simpson)
Duncan & Brady (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
Never Any Good (M. Simpson)
Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man (Trad. Arr.: M. Simpson)
Louisiana 1927 (Randy Newman)
La Rivolte (M. Simpson)
Andrew Lammie (M. Simpson)
Kit's Tune/When a Knight Won His Spurs (M. Simpson)/P.D. (Arr.:M. Simpson)

Edited by: David N. Pyles (dnpyles at acousticmusic.com)

Copyright 2007, Peterborough Folk Music Society and Roberta B. Schwartz. 
This review may be reprinted with prior permission and attribution.

-- 
=====================
David N. Pyles
acousticmusic.com
82 Leadmine Road
Nelson NH 03457 USA
http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames
http://www.acousticmusic.com/frames/fame.htm
=====================
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. --Frederick Douglass

Regime change begins at home.

OK, OK, Bush is not a Nazi  http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=36052

War is a cowards escape from the problems of peace. - Thomas Mann

"fas-cism (fash'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism." -- The American Heritage Dictionary