LONG JOHN BALDRY
Remembering Leadbelly
Stony Plain
· Two giants clash, everybody wins.
Much as Anthony Hopkins managed to play the part of Richard Nixon without looking or particularly sounding like ol’ Tricky Dicky himself, so Long John Baldry succeeds here in capturing the essence of blues pioneer Huddie Ledbetter without descending into mere impersonation. The result is a CD that matches and even, on occasion, surpasses the original artist.
Mind you, at times Baldry does sound eerily close to Leadbelly’s baritone growl, especially on "Go Down Old Hannah" and "Here Rattler." But he’s never restrained by an inflexible reverence for the original, instead often modifying both the melody and lyrics of old standards that form the core of Leadbelly’s considerable legacy. Thus "Midnight Special," "Rock Island Line" and "John Hardy," among others, get a good going over and are all the better for it.
What emerges in the end is a curiously timeless album that sounds like it could have been recorded at any point over the past 50 years. This is only one of its many strengths. In a perfect world, Leadbelly would have died rich and famous, Long John Baldry would be a household name across Canada, and every serious music fan would have a copy of this CD.
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