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Traditional Music Festival, for his contributions to the genre. The following year The California

Autoharp Gathering awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The question is, where to start? The 30 numbers contained within these 2 albums are quite simply,
stunning. The friendly, calming, unruffled rasping voice of Andy, combined with his astonishingly
crisp and enticing finger picking and keyboard skills makes for an excellent educational and

musical journey into the past. ‘Trying to Get Home', focuses upon Andy’s and America’s musical
heritage while ‘Small But, Mighty' (”Songs For Growing Up People”) is a collection of blues songs
written and/or adapted for children. He decided make this album with his daughter Moira to
educate and entertain children of all ages. Moira not only came up with the album title; but also
takes lead vocals on 2 numbers. These are ‘Gravy Waltz', and ‘Funnel Cakes.’. The first was sung to
Moira by Andy when she was a child and now he is a grandpa, she eloquently returns the favour.
The latter is a jolly banjo tale on the desirable benefits of home baking. Another sparkling ditty is

the wonderful ‘Uncle Stinky', this an ode to smelly feet, the joys of not washing and the benefits of
being paid to go away. There are four numbers featured on both albums, these include;
‘Mississippi’ John Hurt’s ‘Talking’ Casey', which is the tale of a fateful train crash caused by Casey
himself, here Andy’s delicate and emotion filled use of a national steel slide is simply mesmerizing.
Blind Arthur Blake’s jaunty ‘West Coast Blues', features a rare guest in Randy ‘Da Bones Man’

Seppala who supplies an irresistibly snapping percussion with his ‘Bones’ complementing Andy’s
attractive picking. The other two are original numbers, ‘Reverend Gary Rag', a splendid delicate
little toetapper and ‘Planxty: Miss Joanna Swan', this sweetly quiet acoustic piece possesses all the
grace and tranquility of a real gliding swan. Reverend Gary Davis’s ‘Trying To Get Home', is a
faithful and haunting rendition that describes mans difficulties in finding the right path home. On
a lighter note Andy gives Sonny Terry’s’ ‘One Monkey Don’t Stop The Show', an uplifting and
cheerfully sarcastic feel. Larry Penn wrote the maudlin yet, uplifting tribute ‘Time To Go', for

railroad hobo, ‘Steam Train Maurie’ when he died. Here, Andy’s piano and guitar playing gently
give grace and elegance to a time of desperation and poverty. Sadly, at this moment in time the
mournful but, despairingly accurate Reverend Gary Davis’s ‘Death Don’t Have No Mercy', says it
all, for now and forever.

Greatly endorsed!

Brian Harman.

When Rivers Meet - We Fly Free - One Road Records

In recent months despite the pandemic When Rivers Meet seem

to have taken the blues scene by storm. The husband and wife
team duo of Grace and Aaron Bond have appeared prominently
online and in the printed media with much radio airplay too, so I
am keen to hear their debut album, ‘We Fly Free’.

The album opens with ‘Did I Break the Law’ a simple bluesy
rocking beat to get the foot tapping. On ‘Walking On The Wire’
Aaron joins Grace on vocals which works really well. ‘I’d Have

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