Search - Ramsey & Vaan :: In Search of a Cheap Hotel

"In Search Of A Cheap Hotel" suggests a non-linear foray through wanderlust,addiction, affairs of the heart, and the human spiritual dilemma. Bart Ramsey, with eleven original songs and two original instrumentals on the CD, comes across in top form, with eloquently skewed humor and incisive off-the-beaten-track observations. He writes about humans inheriting the earth ("When The Monkey Came"), and mortality ("Miles Away"), as well as a lost soul in the Louisiana Bible-belt torn between going the straight and narrow, and keeping his 3 girlfriends, all named Maria ("Three Marias"). Throughout, Neti Vaan's fiddle resounds, with her widely-informed technique never obscuring her gift for heartfelt expression. Her versatility comes through with colorful arrangements, such as the fiddle and accordion "horn parts" on "Spanish Wine and Black Coffee," and her Gypsy-flavored improvisation on the instrumental "Fin de Siècle."The 12 songs and 4 instrumentals on the record range from smoky-barroom swing blues ("Rough Around The Edges"), to gypsy-tinted bluegrass ("Jerusalem Ridge" by Bill Monroe) and Tex/Mex-flavored folk ("Three Marias'). There is an original New Orleans Mardi Gras "mambo" song ("Don't Rain on My Mardi Gras"); and a twisted history of Europe as seen through the eyes of an American, punctuated by twanging jaw harp ("Judgment Town"). A twin-fiddle instrumental waltz ("Ruben's Dream") closes the record.