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Bryan and the Haggards: Pretend It's The End of the World
ByBryan and the Haggards make a wonderful tribute to this living legend without getting too sentimental and despite the delayed rhythm of the track, "Lonesome Fugitive," which ends up appearing somewhat overdone,the barn-recorded nature of the music comes as close to the Blues as anything that white America might have in relation to the blues of Blind Willie McTell, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Big Bill Broonzy.
Rather than featuring the hits of Haggard, this album focuses on his character and in doing so, brings to light some of his lesser known music. "Silver Wings" and "Swinging Doors" were not as famous as "Okie from Muskogee" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Lucky Star." What does come to pass, however, is the raw and primal nature of Haggard's music. "Working Man's Blues" is superb and resounds with the heat and clang of struggle. The emotion of "All of Me Belongs to You" is taut and quite overwhelming in the best sense of the word, as the song soars well beyond "yonder blue" that musicians of Haggard's ilk liked to reach out to.
Murray is most ably assisted by the arresting tone of Jon Irabagon's alto saxophone, Jon Lundbom's gutbucket guitar, especially on "Silver Wings" as well as the marvelous timekeeping of Matthew "Moppa" Elliott's bass and Danny Fischer's drums. Elliott shines on "All of Me Belongs to You" with his sweeping arco playing and accompanying vocals, which effectively defines the playfulness and raw nature of this album, full of the high and lonesome twang of Merle Haggard's music.
Track Listing
Silver Wings; Swinging Doors; Working Man Blues; Miss the Mississippi and You; Lonesome Fugitive; All of Me Belongs to You; Trouble in Mind.
Personnel
Bryan Murray
saxophone, tenorBryan Murray; tenor saxophone; Jon Irabagon: alto saxophone; Jon Lundbom: guitar; Matthew "Moppa" Elliott: bass; Danny Fischer: drums.
Album information
Title: Pretend It's the End of the World | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Hot Cup Records
Comments
About Bryan Murray
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
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