Ohio native and Chicago settler, Eric Noden is Midwestern through and through, but somehow the Mississippi Delta crept into his very soul. An oxymoron is revealed in several places in Eric Noden’s life. He didn’t sell his soul to the devil at the crossroads, he made a deal with the angels instead. Eric’s undying dedication to Chicago’s Blues in the School program and the prewar acoustic blues provide a patient, purist example of music educator. A Midwesterner in geography, but a southern gentlemen with the patience of a saint, Eric has grown up a Bluesman in the industrial Midwest. Raised on folk and blues, the young man was practically born with a guitar, fell in love with prewar blues, folk and gospel and never abandoned his love.
Midwest Blues embodies all of the descriptions above. A very clean, fun and pure approach to the Blues that blends original songs with covers fairly seamlessly. In fact, Eric appears to hop in his time machine when he writes and performs. The album is nicely broken up with Eric’s switch from guitar and piano. Rick Sherry (Devil in a Woodpile/Bloodshot Records) keeps a good beat on washboard on four of the tunes. Tom V. Ray (Bottle Rockets/Bloodshot Records) helps out on a few tracks on acoustic bass. “Black Cat Bone”, penned by Eric, features an entire percussion unit of Eddie Ramos, Estaquio Mendez and ‘Sammy’ (no last name mentioned – could be someone in the witness protection program).
‘River Town’ opens up the CD with the plucking of the dobro and harp (Rick Sherry) and tapping join in, an original song that holds up to all the good river songs. Lyrics like “Blew a gasket or cracked a head, The road I was riding came to an end” emphasize Eric’s sense of humor. Blind Willie McTell would be proud of ‘River Town’. Eric’s voice comes across very well on this track; inflections, vibrato and other uses make the song fairly interesting. ‘Midwest Blues’ moves as well as ‘River Town’ with washboard accompaniment. Another original song, this borrows from Mississippi John Hurt and tells of the author’s wish to do anything to get out of Ohio to Chicago. All of us who’ve been to Ohio, can empathize with the theme. Nice guitar work on this track keeps the song moving along. ‘You Don’t Want Me’, the Mississippi John Hurt song, breaks up the first two fast tracks and settles you down. Eric’s rendition is lovely and lonely. We move more into the barrelhouse juke joint mode with ‘Take a Chance on Me’, another original. The lyrics are simple on this song and lend well to the more intricate and impressive piano playing by Eric.
‘Shelby County Bound’ has a completely different feel than the other songs, and less Blues and more rock. This is about the only song I would depict as contemporary on the record. It’s OK, but not his strongest track on either vocals or arrangement. ‘Cincinnati Flow Rag’, by Reverend Gary Davis is played true to form and well by Eric. “Key to the Highway’ – Big Bill Broonzy – is treated much like Broonzy’s original version, unlike the countless other covers of the song. I like the fact that there’s absolutely no accompaniment on this song and Eric’s lead guitar playing is excellent on this tune.
‘Chi-Town Breakdown’ another Eric song, makes you want to find this party in Chicago. Eric’s songs take on a completely different personality when he plays the piano. This has a nice boogie-woogie feel to it and his piano work is truly spirited on this tune. Eric has spent some time in New Orleans and the next two tracks are noted as New Orleans and Delta Blues arrangements respectively. ‘Buddy Bolden’ is a solid guitar instrumental, the tenth track is ‘Catfish Blues’ covered by almost every Bluesman in the world. Eric’s version incorporates some nice guitar work that reminds me of the Big Joe Williams rendition. I’d say Big Joe is living somewhere in Eric’s Blues psyche, just as much as the Reverend, John Hurt and Skip James.
The album wraps up with two more originals, “What’s on Your Mind”, a St. Louis Blues song that features Eric on piano and Rick Sherry on washboard and ‘Black Cat Bone’. ‘Black Cat Bone’ has a bossa nova feel to it with a beginning reminiscent of Buena Vista Social Club. However, because of the sophistication of the instrumentation and arrangement on this song, Eric’s vocals don’t quite fit the song. This would have been worthy of an overdub on the vocals, so he could sing this a little closer to the arrangement. But this is a fun song and it definitely sounds like all of the musicians enjoy themselves on this tune.
Overall this is a great effort that provides a roots perspective of the Blues with a renewed interest and passion by Mr. Noden. “Midwest Blues” is a history lesson of the love of the Blues and Eric deserves high honors for both this effort and his Blues in the Schools programs. A worthy addition to any Blues collection with support to a man who’s carrying on a great tradition that wears very well.
About the author: Dave Glynn is the lead singer of the Empty Can Band found on the Web at http://www.emptycanband.com.
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