My heart sunk when I opened this CD, an acoustic album all about fishing. I reeled in horror!
The only time I have ever been near fish, they have been coated with batter and are being served up with chips. With a sinking feeling, I put this on the CD player, and what a shock, I was very pleasantly surprised. This is the second fishing music album put out by Ben Winship, a musician and recording engineer, and David Thompson, a musician and fly fishing fanatic, who started collaborating back in 2002, and utilising top quality acoustic artists over a broad spectrum of country, blues and swing music.
It starts well, with first track ‘Little Miss Cutthroat’, a country/folk tune that runs along nicely and is underpinned by some jazzy clarinet playing which sets it apart from the mainstream.
‘Mayfly’, the next track is a great acoustic blues number which features some great vocals & guitar by Jeffrey Foucault.
“Mayfly, mayfly, dyin’ to get born, Mayfly, your wings are tired and they’re torn”
‘Gone fishin’ is a Jazzy, piano-based swing track that once again has some great clarinet playing from Billy Novick.
‘The Eel’s Nephew’ is an instrumental swing track that features Mike Dowling playing jazz guitars in a style reminiscent of the jazz great, Django Reinhardt.
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‘Waiting on the Evening Rise’ is a light country melody which showcases some mighty fine banjo picking by Leon Hunt.
‘Wade in the Water’ is a traditional song done in a swing blues style with Margo Valiante’s excellent smoky vocals.
“Wade in the water, wade in the water children, wade in the water, God’s gonna trouble the water”. This songs original recording history dates back to the 1920’s when The Sunset Four Jubilee Singers recorded it and speaks of the Israelites escape out of Egypt. For me this was one of the strongest songs on the album.
The following track ‘Fishin’ in the Wind’ is another instrumental Django styled swing guitar track from Mike Dowling, and once again is faultless.
I could go through all the tracks one by one and comment, however this wouldn’t really do the album justice. Suffice to say, that I have yet to be converted to the joys of fly fishing, but ‘Fishing Music’? Well that’s a different story! This is an album well worth buying if you like this style.
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