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Something I Said - Review Of Albums By Jorma Kaukonen And Guy Davis On Red House Records

Something I Said - Jorma Kaukonen, Guy Davis
Dwight Hobbes
Twin Cities Daily Planet St. Paul's Red House Records is a boon to the state and the nation, as was rightly acknowledged by the label's release Red House 25: A Silver Anniversary Retrospective. The set commemorated an almost unimaginable achievement: Red House hasn't merely survived as an independent folk and blues label, it's prevailed. A stable of award-winning artists have sustained the house founders Greg Brown and Bob Feldman put on the international map. Red House's presence is further heightened with this month's releases by renowned singer/guitarslingers Jorma Kaukonen and Guy Davis. One's a lemon. The other's sweet as a peach. Jorma Kaukonen wasn't just seminal San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane's lead guitarist. His articulate finger-picking helped distinguish the Airplane at the vanguard of a wave that had label execs used to marketing pop music scrambling to sign every scruffy-looking band that stayed in tune long enough to make a demo. In the Airplane's heyday, Kaukonen and the Airplane's lead singer, soul music devotee Marty Balin, launched the legendary spin-off Hot Tuna. By the time they got around to recording, Balin had either been nosed out or lost interest, leaving Kaukonen and bass-playing wizard Jack Casady to claim what fast became a fanatical cult following. Kaukonen, having released the solo recordings Blue Country Heart (Columbia) and Stars In My Crown (Red House), suggests with his new record River of Time that he has finally run out of gas. The album opens with a half-baked retread of "Been So Long", the bittersweet blistering gem from Hot Tuna's First Pull Up, Then Pull Down. From there, it's further downhill. "Cracks in the Finish," another original, can barely be called that, aping Eric Clapton copping Robert Johnson. Kaukonen, to no avail, dips in his accustomed well of historic blues writers, including Mississippi John Hurt and Rev. Gary Davis (why he never got sued for plagiarizing Davis's "Death Don't Have No Mercy" as the Airplane's "Star Track" is a damned good question). For Jorma Kaukonen performing acoustic at the top of his game, dig up the first, self-titled Hot Tuna album. Only desperately die-hard fans should bother with River of Time. Guy Davis, on the other hand, delivers the goods with Sweetheart Like You. He's been carrying the cultural torch, holding the fire high since 1995's Stomp Down Rider (Red House), and is in fine shape here. Davis plays stinging guitar, hellified harp, and sings his hind-parts off. It's difficult to think of anyone covering Muddy Waters's "Hoochie Coochie Man" at all, much less as successfully as Davis does. He plows the ground with authentic grit and, instead of trying to stand toe-to-toe with the immortal great's hollering vocal, gives the Willie-Dixon-penned classic a gutsy, subdued interpretation nobody saw coming. Davis covers Bob Dylan with the title tune: never mind the pretentious liner notes, listen to the song and enjoy yourself. More highlights: Muddy's "Can't Be Satisfied," the rollicking original "Slow Motion Daddy," and Big Joe Williams's "Baby, Please Don't Go,"—which has been covered from here to kingdom come, but not like this. Davis brings new life to the world-worn lament about a man begging his woman to stay. All in all, Sweetheart Like You kills. Pass on Jorma Kaukonen's River of Time. Pick up Guy Davis's Sweetheart Like You. American music doesn't have a lot to say for itself these days. It'd be in still sorrier shape were it not for Red House Records.
About the Author

Dwight Hobbes has written for ESSENCE, Reader's Digest, Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Pages, Mpls/St. Paul, MN Law & Politics, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Twin Cities Daily Planet, Women & Word, San Diego Union-Tribune and Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (where he contributes the commentary column Something I Said). He's spoken his mind over National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Blog Talk Radio's UNOBSTRUCTED and KMOJ in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Was regularly featured as guest commentator on NewsNight Minnesota (KTCA-Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Spectator (Minneapolis Television Network). His monthly column "Hobbes In The House" in MN Spokesman Recorder speaks to domestic abuse and rape. His plays are Shelter - produced at Mixed Blood Theatre by Pangea World Theater, Dues - produced by Mixed Blood Theatre, University of Southern Illinois in Point of Revue, selected for Bedlam Theatre's 10-Minute Play Festival and published by Playscripts, Inc. You Can't Always Sometimes Never Tell - produced by Theater Center Philadelphia, Long Island University, reading at The Kennedy Center and published in the anthology CENTER STAGE, In the Midst - produced by Long Island University, starring Samuel E. Wright. Hobbes spoke on the panel "Farewell To August Wilson" at the Guthrie Theater, broadcast on Conversations With Al McFarlane (KFAI, KMOJ). Singer-songwriter Dwight Hobbes recorded the single "Atlanta Children" (BeatBad Records) and gigged 10 years in the Long Island/NYC area, including The Other End, Kenny's Castaways and My Fathers Place. He fronted the Boston blues band Midlight. In Minneapolis, Hobbes opened for David Daniels at First Street Entry, James Curry at Terminal Bar, sat in with Yohannes Tona, Alicia Wiley at Sol Testimony's Soul Jam, The New Congress at Babalu, Willie Murphy at the Viking Bar and Wain McFarlane & Jahz at Lucille's Kitchen. Dwight Hobbes still drops in at the occasional open mic around town. www.myspace.com/dwighthobbesmusic

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