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"I
first met Dick back in college, in 1965. He was the kingpin of a lot
of the folk music that sprouted on our campus back then and we were
better for it. I learned to play guitar watching him do it, and
learned perspective from knowing I’d never sing as well.
His work here sounds comfortingly familiar to my ear, with the same
feeling as years ago but with the patina of experience, as in
“Flames of a Fire” – and with
a more northern exposure, as in
“Eleven and Four,” “Rocky Old New England” and others. He still
writes good pictures.
The sound is really fine on this collection. Maybe it’s me, but
Dick’s voice is holding up better than it has a right to at his
advancing age (which is only slightly ahead of my own). I mean, his
pipes have held up exceedingly well for an old guy. I’d say that it’s
a tribute to the way he’s taken care of himself but I suspect not. I
credit his genes, and the fine engineering of his son, Ian."
John Bambach
"Dick Lewis is among the generation of
authentic troubadours influenced by the influx of folk music onto the
national scene by the Kinston Trio and Pete Seeger (and the Weavers)
in the 1950s. He, like Tom Paxton and Ian Tyson, has developed a
distinctive voice as a singer/songwriter. In listening to (Coasting
Through The Years), you realize Dick is the peer of these other
artists in every way except name recognition. Some of the songs are
new; some he's had in his hip pocket for decades. Finally we get to
hear them as a body of work from an artist who has devoted his life to
song and story.
The songs are equal to that level of devotion. Listen to Rodeo with
images so palpable you can taste the dust and smell the stable.
There's the beautiful a cappella work of praise for his home ground,
Rocky Old New England - Dick sings all three parts - and the
magisterial masterpiece of the album, Old Sailors Home: a perfect a
match of words and music, profound and moving. But, Dick's always had
a twinkle in his eye, and you'll hear it in the tongue in cheek of
Egotistically Speaking, and the ballad of Rollaway Rosie, who was a
real-life denizen of a red lighted section of New Bedford in the early
20th century. She never had it so good.
In short, this collection of songs, warm and winning, was a long time
in coming, and well worth the wait."
Gerry Dionne
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