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Mean Mary and the Contrarys—Hell & Heroes Vol 1—
Woodrock Records

Wow! Prolific or what? Last month I was reviewing Mean
Mary’s “Portrait Of A Woman Part 1”, and here is another one!
This is Mary James’ electric band and it’s a stunner!

In my review last month of the “Portrait” album, I used the
word ethereal to describe some of Mary’s music, well the
inclusion here of bassist David Larsen and drummer Allen
Marshall moves the whole thing on more than a couple of
notches. Strangely, the inclusion of other musicians adds to
the spaciousness of the music—it’s a big, big sound—which
grabs you by the ears and won’t let go. A power trio fronted by a banjo—who’d a thought it?

Only four tracks here, three of them co-written by Mary and her mother, Jean James, but what
a delight they are. The lyrics are stand-alone poetry, but when the in-your-face banjo, bass

and drums arrangements are added, this stuff is as good as anything you’ve ever heard; kind
of Gothic bluegrass. There’s a detective/ murder story that could grace prime time TV (’Penel-
ope Rose’), and a murder ballad too (’Fugitive’) which follows a long tradition of such songs in
roots music.

There’s an inspirational song, ‘Seven League Shoes’ which nicely mixes the imagery of fairy
tales with the tenets of motivational therapy. The final song ‘Sparrow Alone’, considers forti-
tude in the face of adversity, “They will never see me tremble, Like the sparrow, I’ll be stone.”
Quite, quite wonderful!

Ian K McKenzie

Walter Trout—Ride—Provogue/Mascot

Walter Trout has ridden his life hard. So hard in fact that he
needed a liver transplant and the blues world held its collec-
tive breath waiting to see if he would recover.

Well, recover he did and following a move to Denmark (his
wife’s home) he is back and stronger than ever. This is Wal-
ter’s thirtieth solo album, recorded in LA and produced by Er-
ic Corne, and is one of the best things he has ever done. The
opener ‘Ghosts’ sums up the reflective tone of the whole al-
bum. “Sometimes I hear a familiar song and it brings back
memories” he sings and Walter has dug deep to track down
memories of childhood and his life on the road, a process which he has no hesitation in declar-
ing, brought him to tears.

‘Ghosts’ (also a single) is a precursor of what is to come on the rest of the album with a couple
of stunning solos and an outstanding arrangement. “Life” he said in a press release, "is kind of
a ride too, isn’t it? And I want to live mine to the fullest.” Well he’s gonna do that. This album
is therapy as well as music and bodes well for the future of this outstanding musician! More
please.

Ian K McKenzie