Customer Reviews

Hello Heartstring

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Simply Fantastic. This cd and their first cd "Dreamland" are never far away from my cd player. Bliss Blood has the best Voice out there. Her super tight harmonies with Carla Murray are amazing! Carla Holds her own beautifully too!You wanna hear amazing Hawaiian Steel Guitar? give this one a listen...Henry Bogdan is truely a fantastic musician. AAA First class. Bliss Blood's originals are instant classics. You'll find yourself singing these songs throughout your day. Andrew Hall's Bass drives the songs perfectly with being overbearing.Originals and covers, it's super. One listen and you'll see this is the most original band out there. I can't say enough good stuff about it. BUY IT TODAY!!!

HELLO HEARTSTRING is the second self-released CD by New York City's THE MOONLIGHTERS.

HELLO HEARTSTRING finds Bliss Blood, Henry Bogdan, Andrew Hall and Carla Murray delving even deeper into 1920's jazz and 1920's Hawaiian steel guitar music to create their unique take on vintage sounds. Original songs on the album, including the twangy, country influenced "STIRRED BY A SPOON" with its surrealist lyrics using the metaphor catastrophic weather to describe falling in love; the Bix Beiderbecke inspired "TWILIGHT IN FLIGHT" featuring cornet by Jon-Erik Kellso; the lilting title track "HELLO HEARTSTRING" with wonderful ragtime fingerpicking solo by Henry; "MANHATTAN LULLABY", a song about the wonders of the sonic landscape of NYC with guest appearance by trad jazz clarinettist Dan Levinson; "FAREWELL TO THE BLUES", a Boswell Sisters-style tune; "RESOPHONIC LULLABY" a haunting original Hawaiian style lullaby; and the rip-roaring ode the books of William Faulkner, "MISSISSIPPI".

THE MOONLIGHTERS also delve deep into the American songbook to find classic forgotten gems to re-interpret, including "Hummin' to Myself" recorded in the 1930's by Connie Boswell; Billie Holiday's hit "I Don't Know if I'm Coming or Going"; "There Ain't No Sweet Man Worth the Salt of My Tears" originally recorded by the Paul Whiteman Orch with Bix Beiderbecke on cornet and Bing Crosby on vocals (The Moonlighters' version features a be-bop instrumental break!); Libby Holman's torch song "Moanin' Low" which was also recorded by Billie Holiday; Hawaiian favorite the heart-stoppingly beautiful "Indebted to You".

This CD also includes some of the band's signature medleys, including a fascinating merging of "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?" with 1933's WWI veteran lament "My Forgotten Man" to create a seamless blend, "Hawaiian Blues/Me Myself & I/Hawaiian War Chant" with jungle drumming (on the bass) and lyrics in Hawaiian, and a brilliant medley of King Bennie Nawahi's "Tickling the Strings" with the Gershwin's "Fascinatin' Rhythm", and bottleneck blues guitarist Casey Bill Weldon's "Just as Well Let her Go" -- which all have practically identical chord changes!

This kind of playful elegance sets the Moonlighters apart from bands that merely re-hash old tunes without injecting them with new life, and has established them as one of the most popular bands in New York City.