Chris Yakopcic – Live At The Hidden Gem
Yako Records
12 songs time – 47:19
Chris Yakopcic is a fingerstyle guitar player extraordinaire-singer-songwriter-blues singer hailing from Dayton Ohio. His rhythmic, high-energy thumb-bass picking is the perfect complement to his lyrically creative originals and his interpretations of his blues hero’s catalog. He takes on a few classic singer-writer songs as well. This live recording finds Chris in high energy mode. It is a wonder how he can rattle off the lyrics in his pleasantly pleading voice while working his fancy fingered picking magic simultaneously.
He leads off this set with his own upbeat and fast-paced “Gotta Get Goodbye Somehow”. His rhythmic guitar keeps pace with his spitfire lyrics. The same approach is followed on “When It All Goes Wrong At Once”. “The Hangover” is self-explanatory, a recounting of a drunken night. He delivers one of two originals that are close to blues. The first being “Sounds Of The Highway” that features Resonator guitar, giving the tune authenticity. The tempo is slowed down for “My Last Three Strings” with a plaintive vocal. Singer-songwriter meets bluesman on “Sweet Time Blues”. His guitar playing is melodic here and he incorporates an instrumental excerpt of “St. Louis Blues”.
He tackles two non-blues covers. I am not familiar with Leonard Cohen’s “Tower Of Song”, but he presents it as an energetic almost blues song. Tom Waits’s “2:19” is taken at a quicker pace, but otherwise it is true to form.
The remainder of cover songs are by two blues icons. He favors Robert Johnson as he includes three of his. “Traveling Riverside Blues” begins slow and deliberate and at mid-point he revs it up against manic guitar strumming, only to bring it back to a slow finish. The first song he learned to play, “Kind Hearted Woman”, is given a good reading. Chris breaks out his slide for “Preachin’ Blues” and proceeds to go to town with it. Mournful finger-picking permeates Blind Blake’s “Chump Man Blues”. It is uncanny how Chris at times reinvent these classics and all the while keeping it fresh.
This is an artist at the heights of his powers, whether it is his singer-songwriter or blues repertoire. The guitar God’s are truly shining down on this guitar wiz-kid. His guitar prowess would be enough, but no, he is also a brilliant lyricist. This record is a pleasant respite from the usual fare of blazing guitar blues. Run don’t walk to pick this gem up pronto Tonto!
