“her voice has a cheeriness and rich vibrance that lifts these lyrics from the worried-all-day moods of some of them. Erin sounds effortless, but we know better – no matter how many times her Dad played these, she had to get them in her own hands and body rhythms to make them work. Mississippi John’s grooves managed to juxtapose involuntary audience movement with relaxation – so different from the subwoofer-fed forced-march dances of most of today's popular music… Jim’s uke bass works well in these arrangements, and it sounds like Erin's acoustic has the pickup being recorded along with miking the soundhole as is traditional. The result is a pure tonal center to each note she picks, with nothing tentative about any of it.”
Full review:
Microwave Dave from WLRH/WJAB FM in Huntsville AL, had some nice things to say about the album:
I have three tracks from Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me programmed for Saturday (AND now re-airing Thursdays 4 to 5pm too, so we are getting some drive time exposure in addition to the 36 years of 8 to 9pm on Saturday nights) with individual tracks airing on consecutive Tuesdays over WJAB beginning tonight:
Stagolee
Got the Blues (Can't Be Satisfied)
Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor
I recognize that these titles will be very familiar to anyone who remembers the late 50s/early 60s folk boom, but I felt they were probably the best to reach to those who are younger and have no experience with MJH's popularity with the folk world. Jim's uke bass works well in these arrangements, and it sounds like Erin's acoustic has the pickup being recorded along with miking the soundhole as is traditional. The result is a pure tonal center to each note she picks, with nothing tentative about any of it.
This is good, because her voice has a cheeriness and rich vibrance that lifts these lyrics from the worried-all-day moods of some of them. Erin sounds effortless, but we know better -- no matter how many times her Dad played these, she had to get them in her own hands and body rhythms to make them work. Mississippi John's grooves managed to juxtapose involuntary audience movement with relaxation -- so different from the subwoofer-fed forced-march dances of most of today's popular music.
Sometimes, my program – which consists entirely of new releases now – goes through droughts where neither a female voice nor an acoustic song comes in the mail for weeks. Great to have you guys and Erin deliver both on one disc. She will get a lot of spins on all the cuts over WJAB during the next few weeks.
(Written by Dave Gallaher.)