Search - Jim Kweskin, Samoa Wilson :: Now & Again

Soul-sustaining, soul-feeding music.

Alexander P. Simack | Avoca, IN United States | 03/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have loved Jim Kweskin's music for over 30 years and he just seems to keep getting deeper. Brother Can You Spare a Dime is the one that knocked me over the edge this time, just got me weeping -- and it's such a quiet piece, one might say understated, at least Jim's vocals, but such depths in it. Acceptance is another word coming to my mind also on this song, I don't know why. Maybe just with the war starting, that this is a music of such peace -- the peace that passes out all understanding, if you can stay with it!There's such a unity of parts here on this album; there is no lead vocalist or instrumentalist, you could say "all men and women are creating equally." I know I'm making plays on words but it feels important. It's what my brain does in its self-talk, always trying to tweak the old cliches into something more up-to-date, usable, and, hopefully, moving.Probably many still can't hear this music; try to go back to pop after a few hearings and it's like what Woody Guthrie said about hobo soup, "so thin you could read a magazine through it." It's almost got a classical music feel to it. Samoa's voice is so pure it reminds me of what was said about Jo Stafford, "perfect pitch." And Jim -- he's definitely gone on somewhere, but at the same time he's right here, amazing!Well I better quit before I start blabbering. Just wanted to say thanks guys for stirring my pot with a big ladle.And to the public: Buy this CD! Even if you can't hear it the first time (and what great music can you hear the very first time) it will steal up on you!"

Give Up The Day Job, Jim

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 12/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, Okay those of you who have been keeping tabs know that I have spend much of the last year, when not doing political commentary or book or movie reviews, reviewing many of the old time folk artists that, along with the blues, were the passion of my youth in the early 1960's. You might also know, if you are keeping tabs, that I have been attempting to answer a question that I have posed elsewhere in this space earlier about the fate or fates of various performers from that period. The performer, or at least the lead performer under review here, is one such person, Jim Kweskin. The last time his name was mentioned in this space I was doing a little name dropping on the occasion of a local reunion of Jim and Geoff Muldaur, a member from the days of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band (that also included Geoff's ex-wife and great performer in her own right, Maria Muldaur). I was so impressed with Jim's work night that it set in motion a search for any recent CD material done by Mr. Kweskin. This CD review is a result of that search.



While pursuing a professional career (a.k.a a day time job) in another field Jim has, according to the liner notes here, kept his hand in the music field "as the spirit moves him". Certainly this effort speaks highly to that periodic motivation. The old Kweskin band of the 1960's sort of specialized in old popular tunes done in the group's own unique style and Jim and his cohorts have continued that tradition here. Outstanding is the vocal work of Samoa Wilson on a number of tunes like the old classic blues song made popular by a young Peggy Lee in the 1940's- "Why Don't You Do Right". Another great Wilson cover is the Bessie Smith classic double entendre "Sugar In My Bowl". And she does a great cover of Julie London's "Cry Me A River". Yes very nice, indeed. Jim sticks out in a very different version (from Bing Crosby's) of Yip Harsburg's 1931 Great Depression classic "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" and a clever version of "Exactly Like You". My question now is- Isn't it about time for the `spirit' to move you again Jim and produce another CD? Listen on.

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