McFarland's voice combines the falsetto of a Skip James without the spookiness and the rasp of Ray Charles without the smoothness and definition. As for his piano style, his left hand is the rhythm section banging out the kind of insistent rhythm a bass and drum kit would have provided for his vocal and right-handed piano melodies.
“Four O'Clock Blues” and the other tracks with vocals are reminiscent of early John Lee Hooker sides in that the sole instrument, guitar for Hooker and piano for McFarland, focuses more on rhythm and timekeeping than impressing listeners with chops and solos.
The technology used to capture these sessions are undeniably better than when he started, but even today's technology would probably collapse in any attempt to capture the power in a song like “Barrelhouse Buck.” Limitations in recording and mastering technologies have dulled the jagged sound of Buck hammering the keys. If you listen carefully, you can tell this is a song designed to bring the house down at the end of a weekend set in a rowdy bar. Both takes of “Alston Blues,” named for his St. Louis suburb hometown of Alston, Illinois, have a shuffling groove to them. Cuts like “Alston” and “Buck's Blues” earn him the “Barrelhouse” moniker. These are parlor blues, saloon blues. “Alston” and “Buck's Blues” are portals to another time and place.
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading about history, but albums like this remind us books are not the only source to learn about the past. Remember, grasshoppers, Indiana Jones put down the books every once in a while, too. Personally, I prefer my spin on adventure to his. All he ever wanted to do was find old things to put in a library. Alston Blues is much more than an ancient artifact. Don't put it in the library. Put it in your CD player and on your iPod and let the past live again. History is cool, with or without those motherfucking snakes.
Article comments