The Music Spectrum Notebook Series digs into my handwritten notes and reviews on older releases still getting my attention.
The sepia tones of the album cover for Samuel James’ Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy are the sepia tones of his music: blues for ghosts, yellowed newspapers, destroyed evidence, buried bodies, and government cover ups. At least that’s what I hear in the tragic tale of “Big Black Ben.”
James pulls out a country, finger-picking blues akin to what Keb’ Mo’ does without the softened pastiche. No, James keeps it gritty, lonely, live, and tragic. There’s a Dead Man Walking haunt to “Sunrise Blues.” “Sugar Smallhouse Heads for the Hills” is a finger-picking guitar, banjo blues for ragged loves, deadly relationships, tall tales of beauty, sexy obsessions, and folk tales of codependence. “One-eyed Katie” comes at the blues via Greg Brown’s folk from the Iowa-almost-Missouri hills.
