CD Review
Rory Block
Last Fair Deal
Telarc CD-83593
by Dave Thomas
Review date: April 2004
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"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
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Rory Block maybe not a household name in the mainstream, but in the blues world she has adopted this "Keeper of the Flame" role, playing in a traditional style yet not necessarily being old fashioned. Rory has been signed by Telarc Records and has just released a compelling album of 14 tracks.
As one would expect there is a pair of Robert Johnson songs, the first being "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" to which Rory has opened out the arrangement to give the song a modern approach, "Traveling Riverside Blues" the other song is handled more in a traditional way and superbly done as well.
Son House's "County Farm Blues" is a good choice and Rory's sparkling guitar is a winner on this lovely song. There are shades of Ry Cooder's slide guitar style in a couple of the tracks, most notably "Awesome Love" and "Amazing Grace", but they are both performed so well by Rory. "Sookie Sookie" a song Rory wrote about a bunch of women talking about hard times and is a vehicle for her urgent yet caring voice whilst she accompanies herself with a kind of picking steely guitar sound and is recommended. "Hallelu, Hallelu" is a vocal masterpiece as Rory multitracking her voice to sound like a small choir. "Two Places at a Table" is a sad tale of a husband losing his wife and lifetime companion and as Rory sings and plays on this piece you can feel the despair and sadness and hope. The final song "Old Friends" is a song Rory wrote after meeting and playing with Eric Bibb, Rory connected musically and spiritually to Eric, which inspired her to go to her tour bus and write a poem which turned into this exquisite song. Rory's playing throughout the album is inspiring and awesome at times whilst her vocal can be tender yet abrasive as well as like silk & honey, although it is tremendous at all times
Rory Block's website is www.roryblock.com
Telarc Records www.telarc.com
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