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‘Wake Up with You’ is a laid-back soul ballad with prominent organ from Mr. Hodges
and subtle lead guitar from Kara.

‘Mama Said’ ups the pace with more organ in the ‘Green Onions’ mould and Kara
shouting out the lyrics and adding a slide solo, then she covers an Ann Peebles song

‘Love Played a Game’ with riffing brass and backing vocals and this is followed by
another cover The Meters’ ‘Doodle Loop’ a funk fest, complete with wah-wah guitar

and Kirk Smothers baritone sax. ‘Same Old River’ has Kara singing over her bluesy
slide guitar and bubbling electric piano and organ and we close with ‘Lessons’ a

rather slushy melodic ballad with strings.

I’ve been impressed with Kara’s guitar playing and singing in the past but was a bit

disappointed by this album – it does sound great with all the elements of the Hi
Records sound but it’s not what I expect from Kara and I would have liked to have

heard her cutting loose more, on both guitar and vocals. I don’t know whether she
was overwhelmed to be recording in Royal Studios where some of her heroes had

recorded or if she and Boo had set out to record a subtle, restrained evocation of the
Hi sound but for me it was all a little too laid back.

Graham Harrison

Happy Traum—Live in Holland—Strictly Country
ASIN : B0FCYSF9NT

Happy Traum was one of a group of folk singers who
were around in the early 60s in New York along with

Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs etc. Happy took guitar
lessons from another New York resident Brownie

McGhee and he includes two of Brownie’s blues songs
on this live album recorded in Holland in 2017 – ‘Pawn

Shop Blues’ and ‘Sporting Life Blues’.

We also get a mixture of folk and blues songs with just the 79-year old Happy singing

and playing guitar - his guitar playing is still dextrous and his voice strong on
numbers like ‘Careless Love’ and Norman Blake’s ‘Church Street Blues’. Also, as well

as folk songs like ‘The Water is Wide’ and ‘Danville Girl’ he also includes his old
associate Bob Dylan’s ‘Buckets of Rain’.

Happy continued to perform into his 80s and to teach via his Homespun Music
Instruction and this album is a nice memorial to a fine artist who passed away last

year at the age of 86.

Graham Harrison