| I first encountered Norman Blake on John Hartford's 1971 landmark album AEREO-PLAIN. Since then I have become a life-long fan of his hybrid blend of folk, jazz, blues, old timey and bluegrass acoustic music. Norman is a gifted multi-insturmenalist who, along with his wife Nancy, play guitar, cello, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, mando-cello and accordian. They are joined by James Bryan (fiddle), Carl Jones (guitar, mandolin, mandola, banjo), Larry Sledge (mando-cello), Peter Ostroushko (mandolin, fiddle and guitar) and Charlie Collins (guitar, fiddle on tracks 13, 14, 16 and 18-21). NATASHA'S WALTZ actually draws from three of Blake's out-of-print albums from the late Seventies and early Eighties for the Rounder label. Tracks 1-12 (all instrumentals) are from 1982's ORIGINAL UNDERGROUND MUSIC FROM THE MYSTERIOUS SOUTH. Tracks 15 and 17 are from 1979's THE RISING FAWN STRING ENSEMBLE. [Blake took the name from his home of Rising Fawn, Georgia.] The rest of the tracks are from the 1981 release FULL MOON ON THE FARM and includes the album's only vocal on the waltz-time "Diamonds in the Rough." My only complaint is that the accompanying 4-page booklet is too skimpy. It doesn't even include songwriting credits, but even the original songs sound like they could have been written a hundred years ago. Blake and his wife, along with a group of like-minded musicians, are gifted instrumentalists who perform with a spirit that is both powerful and enchanting. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
| Ever since its release, this has been on of my favorite albums. Not traditional bluegrass, I always think it has a "gypsy" feel to it. Mostly intrumental, there is great use and interplay of guitar, mandolin/mandola, and violin/viola. If you want to branch out past the cookie cutter "man with a guitar" folk, try this lovely album. I think you will be glad you did - I recommend "Natasha's Waltz" absolutely without reservation. |
