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Folk uit Canada, misschien valt het onder Americana. Of allebei. Super leuk.

 
A celebrated Canadian clawhammer banjo player and member of The Lonesome Ace Stringband, The Old Man and the C Chord is Chris Coole’s third solo album, one that finds him stepping away from his earlier traditional-influenced work in favour of the folk troubadours that first sparked his interest in music. Recorded over a two-year period and inevitably constrained by the pandemic, it’s a collection of duets for one person, the songs of a highly personal nature as he approached 50.

The title is, of course, a punning allusion to Hemingway’s famous novella about obsession and a refusal to give up in the face of life’s struggles, a suitable theme given the circumstances under which the album took shape. 

That theme surfaces from the start with the rippling banjo and John Showman’s violin of the gently fingerpicked 60s folksy-sounding Upon the Mystery with its opening lines  “My life is small, but it’s not broken/so I leave my grievances unspoken/and try think about all the little things /that make it feel alright” while admitting “some wayward sentimental feeling/can blow right in and leave me reeling/I’ll be damned if I can tell you where it comes from/then where it even goes”. Using the metaphor of a songwriter, it goes on to muse on how the future is never set, as a regular after-show drinking companion tells him, “all those songs you were just singing/all they are is just beginnings/But, the verses and that chorus/that’s no guarantee for what’ll happen in the end”. Ultimately it’s just a case of having to just “lay one foot down in front of the other”.

I have to admit, I’d not come across Coole before, but he’s also released several duo albums, including a recent tribute to John Hartford with Showman. If you’re in the same boat, then after hearing this terrific collection, you too, will have some catching up to do. If you’re already a fan, you can be assured this will take pride of place in the collection. 

Voor de belangstellenden, het hele artikel staat hier: https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2023/01/chris-coole-the-old-man-and-the-c-chord/

Tracks:
01. Upon the Mystery
02. Waiting for the Rain
03. I May Not Be Much, But I'm All That I Think About
04. Make This Day
05. My Name Is Lie
06. Delia
07. Sounds Like the Song of Life on the First Day of Spring
08. Ode to Champ
09. The Old Man and the C Chord
10. Where the Light Begins

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cj8kB98bPY&t=2s