You'll meet people like the late Preston Fulp, whose falsetto renditions of old traditional country blues songs eerily presages any number of male singers who work the upper registers, but Roy Orbison in particular. The only difference being that Preston's voice has a heartfelt quality that none save Roy, of our recent crop could achieve in their wildest dreams. With the death of Orbison, I'd say there was no one left who could have matched Preston Fulp for integrity and honesty of tone. He contributes "Careless Love" to both CDs and on A Living Past he adds "Farther Along"
One of the mainstays for the Music Maker foundation, especially since the passing of Gabriel, has been Capt. Luke. Born Luther Mayer, he's been living and entertaining folk in the Carolina's since 1940. He sings in the most awesome baritone voice you've ever heard and nearly stops your heart the first time you hear it on record. I've never heard a voice that could be said to ring like a bell before, and now I know what it means.
But the Capt. is not just a singer; he's an entertainer, which means he does just about anything to amuse the people that have come see him. He plays a mean jaw harp and tells the funniest stories you've ever heard. It's not so much the stories are all that funny, but his characterization is right out of vaudeville and can have you in tears or worse if you're aren't careful.
On Expressin' you only hear the beauty, but on A Living Past you can hear him in full storytelling mode with "The Kingfisher Story" and "Dog and Cat Fight". If any of you have read Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, I'm sure you'll see the resemblance to the storytelling in God from Africa. It sure seems the old Spider is alive and well in the form of Captain Luke.
Now I'm not going to be able to go through each and every artist on these discs, heck I couldn't do that if I were only reviewing one of them, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention two more names: Richard "Big Boy" Henry and Willa Mae Buckner, a.k.a. "The World's Only Black Gypsy", "The Princess of Ejo", "The Wild Enchantress", "Snake Lady", or even "Billie Raye Buckner". For entirely different reasons they both made a lasting impression on me.
The word irrepressible must have been invented with Willa Mae in mind, if there isn't a picture of her next to it in the dictionary there should be. Just judging by the variety of her stage names should be enough for you to go by, but if that isn't enough for you her two tracks on A Living Past, especially the traditional "Peter Rumpkin" which is repeated on Expressin' should tell the whole story.
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