Poor Man's Troubles

Amazon.com
This Bronx-born master of the fiddle, banjo, and guitar performs an authentic blend of old-time styles born mostly in the rolling hills of the Appalachians. With more than an hour's worth of material across 20 songs, Poor Man's Troubles plays like a modern take on Alan Lomax recordings from the American South: thoughtful storytelling, solo banjo, fast-picking folk songs, bluesy renditions of Molsky's traditional favorites, and haunting fiddle work. Equally impressive are the extensive liner notes, which include Molsky's song-by-song accounts of the music's history and the inspiration he draws from the South. An example is his rendition of the 1928 instrumental "Terrell Texas Blues," first recorded by Texas barber Oscar Harper, where Molsky's fiddle drifts along on the accompaniment of his wife Audrey on guitar. --Scott Holter

Tracks:

Poor Man's Troubles
Rove Riley Rove
Old Greasy Coat
Fishin' Blues
Lonesome John
Peg And Awl
Brothers And Sisters
Cabin Creek
Bolts And Locks
Jeff Sturgeon
The Poor Cowboy
John Cole
Chinquapin Pie
I Truly Understand
Billy Joe Banes
Callahan
Terrell Texas Blues
Cousin Sally Brown
Field Holler/Piney Woods/Lost Indian
Grigsby's Hornpipe

Amazon.com

This Bronx-born master of the fiddle, banjo, and guitar performs an authentic blend of old-time styles born mostly in the rolling hills of the Appalachians. With more than an hour's worth of material across 20 songs, Poor Man's Troubles plays like a modern take on Alan Lomax recordings from the American South: thoughtful storytelling, solo banjo, fast-picking folk songs, bluesy renditions of Molsky's traditional favorites, and haunting fiddle work. Equally impressive are the extensive liner notes, which include Molsky's song-by-song accounts of the music's history and the inspiration he draws from the South. An example is his rendition of the 1928 instrumental "Terrell Texas Blues," first recorded by Texas barber Oscar Harper, where Molsky's fiddle drifts along on the accompaniment of his wife Audrey on guitar. --Scott Holter

Customer Reviews:

back to the Blue Ridge.......2001-02-07

If your ears don't take to scratchy reissues and field recordings of archaic mountain music, you could do a whole lot worse than to pick up on this smartly executed recreation of the sounds of Appalachia, circa a century ago. Bruce Molsky is a talented multi-instrumentalist, a decent if not outstanding singer, and a keen student with an encyclopedic knowledge of the tradition. This last has the happy consequence of introducing us to songs and tunes most listeners, including those of us who can never get enough old-time music, haven't heard before, or at least often. Only "I Truly Understand" and "Fishing Blues" could be called warhorses, and surely only the grumpiest misanthrope would object to their inclusion. My favorites are "Rove, Riley, Rove" -- one of those songs that keep playing in your head long after the CD has been put to bed -- and "The Poor Cowboy." The latter is a splendid cowboy variant of the often-recorded mining folk song "Roll on, Buddy." I had no idea such a thing existed. Revival recordings of old-time music are as often as not fairly boring, but Poor Man's Troubles is a happy exception.

Great performance.......2001-01-10

Bruce Molsky combines rhythm, intricacy, creativity, and passion into this collection of tunes. The variety ranges from old time American folk (in a variety of cross tunings, for you fiddle fanatics) to a beautiful African melody. A combination of instrumental and vocal pieces keeps the CD quite interesting. Molsky is a great musician.

Music Album:

Music Album