Jim byrnes my walking stick

Byrnes, Jim - My Walking Stick

Format: CD
Label: Black Hen Music BHCD-0054
Year: 2009
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia
Genre: blues
Keyword: 
Value of Original Title: 
Make Inquiry/purchase: email ryder@robertwilliston.com
Release Type: Albums
Websites:  No
Playlist: Black Hen Music, Blues, 2000's, British Columbia

Tracks

Track Name
Ol' Rattler
Walk On Boy
My Walking Stick
Lookin' for a Love
Ophelia
Talk in Circles
Three Shots
Lonely Blue Boy (Danny's Song)
Drown in My Own Tears
Living Off the Love You Give
What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?
I Want My Crown
One Life (Creole Poetry)

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Jim Byrnes - My Walking Stick

Jim byrnes my walking stick

My Walking Stick

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Information/Write-up

All of Jim Byrnes’s long-simmering interests blend perfectly in My Walking Stick, an album that finds deep blues, rough gospel, playful swing, and dreamy-eyed country getting along like distant relatives swapping tales at a well-oiled family reunion.

The Vancouver veteran’s association with young guitar god Steve Dawson bears especially fine fruit here, in a Dawson-produced set that has Byrnes growling, crooning, and finessing his way through tunes as varied as the bluesy “Drown in My Own Tears”, the doo-wop-ish “Lookin’ for a Love”, and a version of Robbie Robertson’s “Ophelia” that turns the Band’s brassy original into a pensive country ballad.

Similar wonders are worked on the gospel staple “What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?”, one of several cuts featuring a stellar vocal trio called the Sojourners (Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders, and Ron Small) in delightfully different settings. Dawson offers tasty support on slide guitar and other six-string permutations, and he’s joined on some tracks by old cohort Jesse Zubot on violin, as well as by Chris Gestrin’s room-filling Hammond organ.

But it’s the leader’s seasoned, sandpaper-and-honey voice that holds the centre on this crystal-clear, smartly paced recording. He’s come up with a number of potent originals, but the strongest song is the title track, an ode to his dapper cane actually penned by Irving Berlin seven decades ago, which takes Byrnes into twangy, minor-key jazz. The whole disc invites joyful participation; it’s one jamboree that doesn’t leave anybody out.
-Ken Eisner

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