Charlie Barath – Issaquena Getaway
Self-release
www.charliebarathharmonica.com
14 songs – 60 minutes
Let’s cut to the chase: Charlie Barath’s new album, Issaquena Getaway, is a pure delight, packed with great songs, played with a laid-back, down-home authority by a crack band and excellently recorded with warmth by Gary Vincent at Clarksdale Soundstage in Clarksdale, MS. There is just so much to like about this album.
Barath already has a stellar reputation as a harmonica player who is equally comfortable playing multiple musical styles authentically, from blues to honky tonk, and from western swing to folk. Issaquena Getaway sees him focusing primarily on joyful, relaxed, swinging blues, with 10 self-written tracks and two covers. Barath covers all the vocals (other than Shari Richards’s sultry contribution to “Honey I Got No Money”) as well as the harp, superbly backed by a band comprising Johnny Burgin and Andrew Sherer on guitars, Mark Yacovone on piano and organ, Mike Law on bass and Danny Banks on drums. The entire band deserves immense credit for providing such sympathetic, musical support, laying down a series of irresistible grooves whilst also shining when offered the opportunity to take a solo or two (and Barath is very generous with such opportunities).
The album opens with “I Gets Around”, a shuffle that is both nonchalant and overwhelmingly infectious at the same time, and it’s a great primer for the rest of the album. Burgin lays down the first of many tasty guitar solos (indeed, if you’re a guitar player, Burgin and Sherer provide a object lesson on this album on how to properly support a singer and harmonica player, perfectly blending two separate guitar parts, whilst contributing solos that add to the song). The swinging “The Weekend Song” contains noteworthy solos from Sherer, Yacovone and Barath, but this album is about much more than just the solos – the musicians always serve the songs, with Law and Banks nailing a series of different blues styles.
Barath is a fine singer and lyricist. In “Waiting’ For The Queen”, he uses a card game as a metaphor for love as he sings “They dealt me a King, then they gave me a Jack. I didn’t like them other cards, so I threw them back.” By the end of the song, however, “I knew my Queen had finally come around.” On “The Best Thing That You Can Do”, he gently reminds us that “ain’t never right to do the wrong thing. Ain’t never wrong to do the right. That won’t make you rich and famous, but at least you can sleep at night.” And in the tongue-in-cheek “I Might Fall In Love”, he lists a series of things he absolutely will not do for one specific woman, such as paying her attention, buying her dinner, taking her on a long, moonlit drive or being polite to her parents, for fear that he might fall in love with her.
The two covers fit well with the merry exuberance of Barath’s own songs. Ike Turner’s “Cuban Getaway” adds a Cuban-flavor to the mix, with the harmonica assuming the melody line that was originally played by Ike’s guitar. Likewise, Stanley Turrentine’s saxophone on “Sugar” is replaced with some outstanding harmonica playing.
Issaquena Getaway is a great listen from start to finish. Highly recommended.
