There are people who play the blues who are technically fine, but lack the intangible quality of heart and soul that elevates them beyond being merely a player. It's a feeling you get when listening to someone, the feeling that each note they play or sing is costing them something emotionally, that makes the difference. It's like the difference between the person who asks you how you're doing as part of a meaningless salutation and the person who really wants to know how you are feeling
If Stacy Mitchhart were to ask you how were doing, you know that he'd mean every word of it. His music is the real thing with each note he plays on anyone of his guitars, and each note that he sings sounding like it's coming straight from his heart. He incorporates all sorts of styles into his music, country, soul, R&B, and early rock 'n' roll, to build his own unique sound. But at its core it's the blues.
The other thing about him is that you can tell that he has a great time doing what he does. It comes through in the sound of his voice and in the arrangements of his songs. It's especially true on what for me is the highlight of this disc; his medley/interpretation of the old Led Zeppelin tunes "Black Dog" and "Whole Lotta Love." I'd never been a fan of the hard rock school of Blues that Zeppelin practiced so I was a bit tentative about listening to covers of their music.
That was before I read the notes the publicist sent out including Stacy's cut-by-cut analysis of the CD. "I've never been a big Led Zeppelin fan personally..." were the first words he'd written about his version. But everybody at their gigs was always yelling out for them to play their music. What he did was take the songs and rework them back into Delta blues numbers, much like the music that originally inspired the songs in the first place.
His versions of the songs are nothing short of amazing as he plays them on his resonator guitar and turns them into old "Hollar" style blues numbers. When his voice breaks in "Black Dog" its from genuine emotion, not because he's some rock 'n' roll prima donna. Underneath everything, the music, and the singing, you can almost hear a thread of laughter running as he's performing the song. It finally breaks through when he comes to the Led Zepplin line: "I don't know, but I've been told/Big legged women ain't got no soul."
Article comments
1 - Declan
The lyric in Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" is "Big-legged woman ain't got no soul", not "Big-legged wom[e]n ain't got no soul", which gives a totally different intent to the lyric. Plant is singing about a woman, not women in general. A little more research by both Mitchhart and you would be in order.