“Harpe and Jim Countryman have delved into the vault and delivered an album of pure magic. Ten tracks spanning the career of one of Country Blues’ most celebrated people.
This has not been over thought or made into something hardly recognizable, just the sweetest vocals courtesy of Harpe, and an acoustic guitar that sees Jim Countryman joining in on accompanying bass. The title track, Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me, is simply sensational. It put me in the frame of mind to be sitting in a rocking chair, on my front porch, surrounded by a white picket fence with a cold beer in my hand and not a care in the world. To be honest, that theme more or less runs through the entire song list. Harpe and Countryman have produced something extremely rare: a simple take on simple songs.
A brilliant album from start to finish, bravo Erin Harpe, you have certainly put a smile on this writer’s face, along with a sense of enchantment.”
Full review:
This collection of material is a tribute album to the late, great Mississippi John Hurt. Now, there have been many tribute albums to Blues artists over the years, and I always wondered why Hurt had not been part of that thinking. That is, until now, Harpe and Jim Countryman have delved into the vault and delivered an album of pure magic. Ten tracks spanning the career of one of Country Blues’ most celebrated people. This has not been over thought or made into something hardly recognizable, just the sweetest vocals courtesy of Harpe, and an acoustic guitar that sees Jim Countryman joining in a few tunes on accompanying bass. The title track, Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me, is simply sensational. It put me in the frame of mind to be sitting in a rocking chair, on my front porch, surrounded by a white picket fence with a cold beer in my hand and not a care in the world. To be honest, that theme more or less runs through the entire song list. Harpe and Countryman have produced something extremely rare: a simple take on simple songs. Make Me A Pallet On The Floor is one of those Country Blues songs that nobody really knows where it came from, or who wrote it. Mississippi John Hurt recorded in the early 1920’s, and quite rightly, he gets the plaudits for having the best version. However, I do seem to recall a version of this that was performed by Willie Brown, “tell my friend poor Willie Brown” (Crossroads, Robert Johnson). I digress, this is just as worthy of a mention alongside the other renditions. Stagolee, or Stagger Lee as it is sometimes referred to, is another song that has been linked to numerous artists, including Lloyd Price, W C Handy, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway. A brilliant album from start to finish, bravo Erin Harpe, you have certainly put a smile on this writer’s face, along with a sense of enchantment.
(Written by Stephen Harrison.)