Page 41 - BiTS_12_DECEMBER_2020

Erin Harpe —Meet me In The Middle —Vizztone Label ASIN :
B08HTF1HY2

Like many others the lockdown has meant that Erin Harpe
couldn’t play with her band The Delta Swingers and instead she’s
recorded this album at home going back to her roots in country

blues (her father is Washington DC bluesman Neil Harpe). She
plays acoustic guitar, slide guitar and 12-string guitar and sings
four original songs and six traditional blues including ‘Women Be
Wise’ by Sippie Wallace, ‘I Hate That Train Called The M&O’ by
Lucille Bogan, Geeshie Wiley’s ‘Pick Poor Robin Clean’ and ‘What’s
The Matter With The Mill’ credited to Memphis Minnie,

accompanied only by her husband Jim Countryman playing ukulele bass. Her picking, slide and
vocals are fine but for me there was just something missing, it doesn’t help that she sings ‘Women
Be Wise’ and ‘Rolling and Tumbling’ both also done by Bonnie Raitt early in her career and I’m
afraid that Erin just doesn’t have Bonnie’s charisma. I’ve enjoyed Erin’s group albums but I
definitely missed the additional instruments here, my favourite tracks were the gospel song ‘When I
Lay My Burden Down’, ‘One Fine Day’ with its 12-string guitar and double-tracked vocals and I also

liked the title track which also benefits from double-tracked vocals on the chorus.
Graham Harrison

Shemekia Copeland—Uncivil War—Alligator ASIN :
B08FNJK66P

As on her last album ‘America’s Child’ Shemekia stays with

producer/guitarist Will Kimbrough for this new record which was
also recorded in Nashville, again it’s an album that combines her
blues heritage with more Americana influences. However, if you
think that she’s deserted her roots opener ‘Clotilda’s On Fire’ is a
blues song that references the last slave ship to land in America
with twin guitars from Kimbrough and Jason Isbell and that’s
followed by the laid-back gospel of ‘Walk Until I Ride’ which

reminded me of the Staple Singers - there is no higher praise. Many of the songs here were
written/co-written by her manager/producer John Hahn and have socially conscious messages
about race relations, multi-culturism, the environment etc.

‘Uncivil War’ is a nice state-of-the-nation country song, with mandolin by Sam Bush and Jerry

Douglas playing dobro, while ‘Money Makes You Ugly’ is a Stones-style rocker and that is soon
followed by a swampy version of the Stones’ own ‘Under My Thumb’—where Shemekia turns the
tables on Mick - I can’t see him arguing with her! ‘Apple Pie and a .45’ and ‘She Don’t Wear Pink’
are both rockers, the latter with Duane Eddy on guitar and ‘Give God The Blues’ is a blues song that
champions multi-culturalism. ‘In the Dark’ is a nice slow blues, a cover of an old Junior Parker track
and like most of her records the album closes with a song by her father ‘Love Song’, a melodic blues
shuffle. I could have started this review with a list of all the guests here—Jason Isbell, Steve

Cropper, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Webb Wilder, Duane Eddy, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and The
Orphan Brigade—but it’s Shemekia who completely dominates every track closely followed by Will
Kimbrough’s guitar and the understated rhythm section of Lex Price on bass and drummer Pete