Here are what some people who have A Devil of a Row are saying about it:
| Yay! Damn, you got some obscurro stuff here. Love it! ~Mary Ann Geier, Philadelphia, PA |
| Howdy. I think it's great -- nice selection of tunes (some more obscure
& some less obscure), very nice playing, recording & ensemble
sound. Also very informative liner notes. ~Lynn "Chirps" Smith, Grays Lake, IL |
| [It's] wonderful stuff and y'all did a really nice job documenting
the tunes and where you learned them! We pedantic folklorist types appreciate
that kind of effort! ~Patricia Wells, Murfreesboro, TN |
| A quick howdy to tell you how much I'm enjoying the album. Wow! My
favorites are Hook and Line and the Mirabelle Waltz. Everything
is great, all the way through, and it's also a treat to have such juicy
liner notes. This one is certainly getting tons of airtime at my house. ~Sarah Bryan, Arlington, VA |
| Got your CD on as I type. ... nice rooster. Bless you for recording
Yearlings in the Canebreak. That's one of my favorite old-time 78s.
Just one thing: "I want to hear Soldier's Joy. Why didn't you
play Soldier's Joy for me?" ~Paul Wells, Murfreesboro, TN p.s. -- Nice hats |
| We have had your new CD playing almost continuously since it arrived
on Saturday. Red, White & Blue is so charming we keep coming
back to it again and again. Other favorites (at this point) are Crow
Little Rooster, Hiram Stamper's Chinkypin Hunting and Joe & Odell's
Hook & Line. ...then, later... We are still enjoying the CD on a daily basis...love the archaic version of R, W & Blue more and more and think you do one of the best Train on the Islands ever. ~Gail Gillespie & Dwight Rogers, Carrboro, NC |
| Your album has me swelled with nostalgia. I hate you! Good job
-- it's a unique album, I don't know why. It's just a sound I want
to jump into with fiddle in hand. Congrats and get it out there, pard!
Bust down, too. ~Pat V. Conte, maj. ret., Secret Museum of Mankind |
| Today we unwrapped and listened to your newly-made CD. It is really
a masterpiece. I am very proud of you. I hope you sell them all because
it will make the ears of the world happy and will certainly contribute
toward world peace. ~Bonnie Zahnow, South Seattle, WA |
| By the way, the CD arrived yesterday! Great job on the Bonner piece,
and lots of other nice tunes, some familiar and many unknown to me. One
of my favorites is the Earl Collins tune, Crow Little Rooster. ~Steve Green, Orono, ME |
| I LOVE your CD. You picked all the good tunes, and played
them just right. ~Molly Tenenbaum, North Seattle, WA |
| I'm listening to a very awesome album that brings the best of [Northwest]
Folklife wafting up around the keyboards and monitors. And love that rooster!
This is great, guys. Wonderful mix, great pacing, fantabulous tunes. Mmmmm. ~Jeanie Murphy, Puyallup, WA |
| It's a dandy. ~Jim Nelson, St. Louis, MO |
| I have to agree with Jim. ~Steve Goldfield, Oakland, CA |
| It was like a breath of fresh air. The music is clean, tasteful and
has that special wholesome old-time sound that we all love. The variety
of styles and the documentation of sources was a grand final touch to a
wonderful compilation. It really brightens up the quiet evenings with something
that is honest, pure, and timeless. ~Bobby Taylor, Charleston, WV |
| I want to make sure Sheila reads this. I enjoyed her guitar
playing a lot on it. For one who doesn't get to play much, she's fantastic.
It's scary to think wht she'd be like if she threw herself into practicing!
I think it's a fine CD -- perhaps destined to be a classic in the lines
of Hollow Rock and Fuzzy Mountain, in that it brings to life so many wonderful
tunes buried in fairly inaccessible collections. The playing on all of
them is good and many of them are simply delightful. I'm sure everyone
has their favorites -- these are mine -- the ones I'm sure we'll be trying
to learn ourselves: Rockin' In a Weary Land, Chinquapin Hunting,
Hook and Line, Battle in the Horseshoe, French Waltz,
Tie Your Dog Sallie Gal, Lightning in the East, and The
Mirabelle Waltz. Everything on the CD is good and the notes are very
thorough, as we all expected. Congratulations on putting out a great "product." |
| Please add my gushing. It sounds like real oldtime music, played with
spirit and integrity by musicians who understand how the music goes, which
is something few people can do. So there! Big congratulations. ~Bruce Molsky, on-the-road, USA |
| Dear friends across the Atlantics and a few miles of ground on each
side, we are very happy to inform you that we received your CD and listened
to it directly. What nice material! We enjoyed it very much...Congratulations...Keep
on doing good music! ~Philippe Fromont, Switzerland |
| Sheila and Kerry and Al -- I love your hard-drivin' CD. Most tunes
are not known to me -- great -- and it sure helps keep me awake grading
student papers. A good thing -- the CD, I mean, and of course, staying
awake. Thanks. ~Eileen Little, Ballard, WA |
| I really enjoyed the CD, it expresses a breadth of material seldom
found in old-time music, and as Pat Wells noted, the liner notes are outstanding.
I really appreciate the fact that you have the knowledge to make comparisons
with other versions of tunes. And, as always, as a musician, I appreciate
knowing what the tunings are for the instruments, so often that is overlooked.
I particularly liked your renditions of Rockin' In A Weary Land
and Lightning in the East (which was a new one for me). I also
like the Roscoe Parish Waltz, seems I always have a hard time finding
waltzes I like well enough to learn. It sounds to me as if you are more
of a folklorist than most of the folklorists I know! ~Pat Gill, Watertown, TN |
| I just wanted to thank you for the fine Devil of a CD you recently
sent to me. A very generous serving of wonderful tunes very well played
indeed! ~Ray Alden, Croton-on-Hudson, NY |
| Love your tunes and the way you play them. I am so tired of getting
CDs and desperately wanting to hear something trad oldtime I have
not heard before -- even your versions of Bufffalo Gals and Leather
Britches are real interesting and fun to listen to, especially while
doing paperwork at work! ~Susan Sterngold, Suffern, NY |
| I'm liking the CD... Great job there. There are a couple of cuts that
really jump out at me. You may think they are the complicated ones like
Tie Your Dog or Chinquipin (which are great), but the ones
that leap at me are Red, White and Blue, and Hook and Line.
I've had RW&B going through my head all day... know it was a ton of work, but I think the outcome is spectacular! ~Jim Newberry, Phinney Ridge, Seattle, Washington |
| We are sitting and listening to your CD just at this very moment. Isn't
it cool to think that even though you are far away and fast asleep, that
somewhere in the world someone is listening to your music... Kind of Zen,
huh? We love it, it is fabulous!! When's the next one coming out? ~Judith Bows, Krakow, Poland |
| I got your CD and it's really great! I played Rockin' in a
Weary Land and California Cotillion on my show last week, but
I haven't posted it yet. I thought your CD was exceptionally
well-played and recorded. I'll give it lots of airplay and exposure. ~Lewis Wills, Atlanta, GA |
| I sure have been enjoying your new CD! Killer, guys! Excellent
job with tune selection, delivery and notes. Great sound quality too. I knew
some of the tunes but there were many I didn't. I love it. There are many
I want to learn. Thanks for going through the extended hell of completing
this project. It's a great tribute to all three of you and it will also
see that many of these pieces will see more light of day, or should I say,
dark of night? Your take on Hiram's Chinquapin Hunting pops into
my mind every time there is a lull in my concentration. Fantastic! It seems
to have taken the ungodly place of "I've fallen and can't get up."
Thank God , there is a God! ~Rich Hartness, Greensboro, NC |
| [Kerry] and Allen and Sheila have made a fine recording and I like
it a lot. Great tunes, immense taste, fine timing -- what more could one
ask? Well, that you do another one as soon as your finances and schedules
allow. Oh yes, the CD notes are very good, and it seems unfair that
you be both musical and literate to that degree. It has traveled in my
"play" stack since I got it. Kerry's fiddling is slick and sweet
and biting as required and the tunes are a well-selected bunch of (mostly) unusual
ones, some rare gems among them. I'm noted for harassing open-back banjo
players, but Hart plays his butt off on this one. Sheila's timing is excellent,
she's as good on that guitar as my teacher was at ante-over (ballgame in
which the ball is thrown over the little schoolhouse). Lot of love went
into making that one. ~Joe Wilson, Silver Spring, MD |
| So...thank you for sending A Devil of a Row -- I've enjoyed
it immensely. Tuck Me In and French Waltz are a couple of
favorites -- also a great version of Leather Breeches. And Hook
& Line is terrific -- it really captures the "Joe & Odell" spirit. ~Marshall Wyatt, Raleigh, NC |
| I got the CD and it is great. I'm going to learn a few of those
tunes! ~Bill Blevins, Blacksburg, VA |
| Just finished [listening to] the CD, on my computer -- very fine music!
Gloria and I just love The Mirabelle Waltz! That appealed to
my Swede one-fourth, especially. You all play so cleanly and blend so well,
and keep dance time -- so many modern-day bands can't, have never played
a dance. Outstanding job. ~Stu Jamieson, on his boat, somewhere on the Bounding Main |
| I listened to the whole thing in my car, driving to and from work.
No kidding, Kerry, it sounds great. Your band just has a great overall
sound. It must be really fun for you to play together. ~Joe LaRose, Twin Lakes, Ohio |
| I really like the "atmosphere" of your music. You have
something old time that is elusive in your music. Not many folks get it.
But you never sound old, either. I like the verve with which you played
the tunes. All of you. ~Bob Buckingham, York Co., PA |
| Your CD was here when we got home. It's wonderful! My biggest complaint
about it is that every time I start to listen to it, Gail makes me
stop ... so she can learn one of the tunes. Yesterday it was Wake Up,
Chicken and I never got any further on the CD. Today it's All
Young. If you'd only recorded less interesting tunes, then I'd get
to hear the whole CD! ~Bob Bovee, Spring Grove, MN |
| Just to say, I love your CD! Both Marta and I are grateful that the
banjo is mixed at a higher volume than usual. (Not to disparage your fiddling
at all! -- just that usually it's hard to hear the banjo, but not on your
album.) Many good tunes, some new to me, well done! ~Jeff Titon, Providence, RI |
| I picked up (well, I actually paid for it, too) your CD at Fiddle
Tunes and have really been enjoying it. ~Charlie Hartness, Portland, OR |
| I loved the CD! It's really nice!!!!! I put it on the next
morning when I was trying to wake up and do something and the music got
me going!!!! Good job!!!!! ~Lisa Bias, Seattle, WA |
| Way cool! Neat, obscure tunes, and plenty of them! Congratulations
on a job well done... Michael Mendelson, Santa Barbara, CA |
| I finally got around to listening to your CD yesterday, and I
love it. Great playing and great selection of tunes. Maybe we'll play some
of them at Clifftop. See you there. ~Maxine Gerber, Oakland, CA |
| We proudly present to you the first CD by this trio of dedicated Old
Time musicians from Seattle. We guarantee you have never heard the tunes
before, though a few of the names might seem familiar. You might know Kerry
(the tall guy with the fiddle bow through his head) as the most published
reviewer of fiddle music in both the Old Time Herald and the Victory
Music Review. He is a friend of thirty years, always the last one standing
at the end of any festival fiddle jam, and is a champion of true folk music. ~Andy Cohen, Memphis, TN (for the River Lark catalog) |
| Put that fiddle down!!! ~Emmett Bankston, Atlanta, GA, October 11, 1927 |
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