Customer Reviews

Blues Rags & Hollers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw these guys perform when I was in grad school in Madison Wisconsin in the early 60's and at a coffee house in Milwaukee. They were great then and today their stuff holds up. Authentic, unembellished sexuality and wit; great twelve string from Ray.

Blues masters at a tender age, before most white people, and some black, had a clue as to the raw power and beauty of the blues. These three cats blew it all away! It is truly a wonder that their intense style and mellow personalities didn't come to the attention of a wider audience. Oh well, those who were fortunate enough to be present as they pounded out the Rags and Hollers can attest to the infectious, addicting craziness that was always with these three characters. This classic album, in every sense, defined what an entire generation of future blues lovers could find only by listening to the original blues masters. Three white guys from Minneapolis, in the early sixties, sounding like Leadbelly! Remarkable! Spider John's odd numbered guitar strings, Snaker Ray's silken voice, Little Sun Glover's harp that still brings tears of joy after all these years. I can't think of a better introduction, to the blues, for this current and future generations to hone their eardrums and musical tastes on. This album never grows old...thanks John, David, and Tony!!!! Keep on linin' that track fellas

16 years after discovering this album in my father's basement this is still my absolute favorite blues album. For years I anticipated the CD release of the album, which is great and includes 4 tracks not on my Electra vinyl release, but it just doesn't compare to the Vinyl. Calling this album a classic doesn't do it justice. Listen and enjoy.

Who knew that three guys this cool were hanging around Minneapolis in the early 1960s? Back when Bob Dylan was but a skinny (and short-tenured) frosh at the U of M, Koerner, Ray and Glover were already lighting up the West Bank and Dinkytown with their eclectic blues, rags and hollers. The threesome were a blast of fresh air in a musical milieu that mostly resembled the inner-sleeve album photo (crew-cutted, horn-rimmed guy wearing headphones), helping the Twin Cities turn the page into what has been a tumultuous and productive scene ever since.
Having said that, "Blues, Rags and Hollers" is far from a perfect album. Live observers have noted that the threesome appeared each to be tapping their feet to their own tempos at times, and much of the music is enthusiastically sloppy in this way. However, such enthusiasm is their strong suit: the opening straight-vocal cut, "Linin' Track," begins the festivities with a bang and sets the tone throughout. Other standout tracks include "Bugger Burns," the Robert Johnson classic "Dust My Broom," and "Good Time Charlie."
Individually, I love Spider John's manic phrasing, the late Dave Ray's soulfulness and Glover's impeccable harmonica chops. What makes me cringe is when they sound, on occasion, like earnest white boys trying very, very hard to be black. On a couple of the cuts, the singer affects an oddball accent that would likely set John Lee Hooker spinning in his grave. However, given the fact that they so wonderfully found their own voices over the courses of their lengthy careers, and given their profound, positive influence on local music, such transgressions are easily forgiven.

Out of the same Minnesota mix that produced Bob Dylan, these guys are brilliant. 12 string and slide guitar like few have recorded with respectful covers of Blues greats and plenty of original stuff. If you enjoy country Blues these white boys will blow you away.

This music is still one of the great blues recordings
of the era. Timeless and one for the desert island.
Steve

**Dinkytown refers to the student/hip ghetto, etc. of Minneapolis back in the days (and perhaps today as well). It also seemingly reflects on the range of the Koerner/Ray/Glover ambition.

In a review of Spider John Koerner's CD "Stargeezer" earlier this year I made the following comment that related to a question I was then asking about the fate of various male folk singers from the folk revival of the 1960s:

"Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time folk artists that, along with the blues, were the passion of my youth in the early 1960's. You might also know, if you are keeping tabs, that I have been attempting to answer a question that I have posed elsewhere in this space earlier about the fate or fates of various performers from that period. Spider John Koerner was a lesser known, but important, fixture on the Cambridge/Boston folk scene during that time, as well as later once the hubbub died down and he and a local stalwart, Mr. Bones, carried on the tradition in smaller venues and in front of smaller crowds."

Well, here we go back to the basics of why I attentively listened to an old folk radio on late Sunday nights during my youth in order to learn what Koerner /Ray/Glover were up as they tried, and succeeded although it was a near thing, to translate their love of the blues in its country form into something that whites could appreciate and blacks could respect. Forty plus years out we know that white guys (and gals) can sing the blues, a bit differently from black guys (and gals) but the blues nevertheless. Tops on my list here are their version of the Robert Johnson/Elmore James classic "Dust My Broom" and the Blind Lemon Jefferson-inspired "One Kind Favor".

Who would have thought that three young white boys from the North Country could sing and play Delta blues and not sound like either a feeble imitation or a parody? This album is a masterful achievement for guys who were so young when it was first recorded, and didn't have the benefit of any first-hand contact with bluesmen as they grew up. After all, Tony Joe White and Mose Allison, two premier white guys who "sing black", for example, were born and raised in the same milieu where the blues originated.
I don't agree with a previous reviewer who alluded to "earnest white guys trying very, very hard to sound black." Dave Ray managed to bury his Minnesota accent completely, and he didn't make it sound like a struggle. Koerner's singing doesn't come across quite as "black" - more like, say, Jerry Reed singing "When You're Hot, You're Hot". But then I don't think he tried to duplicate either the black blues singers' style, or Ray's, to the nth degree. And I loved his lyrics and ebullient delivery on "Good Time Charlie." Glover's harmonica is a key element, also.
What great young talents they were. What a superb album. The blues are not my favorite genre, but once in a while I'll definitely get into "Blues, Rags and Hollers."