CD Review
Paul Rishell and Annie Raines
"Moving To The Country"
(Tone-Cool Records 1174)
by Matt Alcott
Review date: December 1999
|
 |
1999 KBA Award Winner
Achievement for Blues on the Internet
Presented by the Blues Foundation
| |
A revivalist like John Hammond Jr., Rory Black, Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) and Taj Mahal (Henry St. Claire Fredericks), Boston singer/guitarist Rishell plays mostly country blues in the style of Lightnin' Hopkins and Brownie McGhee. And longtime partner, Little Annie Raines, supplies the Sonny Terry harp. Rishell is certainly not the first to take this solemn preservational approach to the blues, but the soft-spoken singer and excellent guitarist does it extremely well-among his impeccable cover choices are Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues," Blind Boy Fuller's "Mamie," Skip James' "Devil Got My Women," Blind Blake's "Too Tight," Django Reinhardt's "Tears," Blind Blake's "Sweet Jivin' Mama" and Jim Jackson's "Kansas City Blues."
Find a copy of the 1993 Tone-Cool release "Swear to Tell the Truth," and you'll find Rishell stretching farther into the electric band style; Raines and the tight band of Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters back him. It is evident that this duo knows, loves and respects the music they play. "Moving to the Country" is a primer of popular American music from the turning of the Nineteenth to the turning of the Twentieth Century. The blues needs more people like Rishell, Raines and Hammond to deliberately point listeners back to the originals.
www.tonecool.com
E-mail: tonecool@rounder.com
This review is copyright © 1999 by Matt Alcott, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.
|
|
E-mail Ray Stiles at: 
We build websites