A layman’s opinion of
“Didn’t it Rain” by Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band
With the release of Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band’s
second album “Didn’t it Rain” came a rush of excitement. I had it pre-ordered as soon as that option
became available and purchased it through a UK distributor. I wasn’t going to
wait the extra four months for it to become available in the States. The entire
album is fantastic. With my love of “Let Them Talk” I was apprehensive a bit
that perhaps this new album wouldn’t live up to my expectations. On the
contrary, it picked up my expectations, folded them into an origami menagerie
and then proceeded to make them dance before my ears (yeah, that’s right,
before my ears, deal with it.)
As a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white girl born in the suburbs
and raised in country-clubs, I was always the odd man out when it came to
music. While my friends were listening to top 40 and going from metal to boy
bands to girl pop to techno to arena rock, I was in my own little world
learning the chord structure and intros to Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker,
Dr. John, Lonnie Brooks and James Booker songs. Rushing home from school to
grab my guitar, turn on Ray Charles and play along until my fingers ached. When
given the chance to introduce a friend to the music that was in my soul and
flowing in my blood, I would grab it, exchanging the tape deck back and forth
to play songs, stanzas, even small riffs to try to show the heart of the blues.
It’s truly something you feel. It is something that breeds within you and
multiplies.
Your desire to listen to this music and play it never
leaves. It’s with you when you wake and the last thing you want to do before
going to sleep...or often, what you stay up all night doing, because you’d
rather be playing the blues than sleeping. The blues is joy. It is love. It is
the earth. It is soil. It is a reason to keep breathing, keep celebrating and
keep trying. Listening to and playing
this music is life. It’s my first passion and my truest calling. It’s religion,
it’s faith, it’s science, it’s gravity, it’s romance, it’s sex, it’s birth,
it’s death, it’s reality. If I believed in heaven, no doubt this music is what would
be playing there.
Laurie’s understanding and undeniable love for this music is
refreshing and reassuring. It gives you hope that no matter what else happens
in this world, this music will survive. The amount of joy with which he and The
Copper Bottom Band play makes my heart smile. When they hit that melodic chord
or stick in that certain triplet and it makes me laugh out loud with utter
delight.
The first track on the album “The St. Louis Blues” is a look
back at W.C. Handy but with an arrangement that seriously has me in a mix of
emotions; giddy over the syncopation and tearing up over the woodwinds.
With a body-rattling left hand, Laurie continues to blow anyone’s belief that he isn’t a talented musician out of the water. He plays with the drive of someone meant to be behind the keys.
Vincent Henry on clarinet brought me to tears. With my Grandfather
(a jazz musician and sax/clarinet/upright bass player) passing away recently, when I hear a clarinet played well it pulls the ripcord on my heart. It
makes me yearn to hear the house filled with Dixieland tunes and to be able to
sit and watch and listen to him play again. Vincent Henry’s tone is beautiful.
It makes me want to close my eyes and take a trip on every note he plays.
The tempo changes throughout are reminiscent of Brubeck’s
“Blue Rondo a la Turk” only more sensual and smooth. For me, a deep love of a
song 90% of the time begins with loving the rhythm and the percussion
throughout this song and this album is stellar.
Throw in the vocal styling of Sista Jean who emotes with
each word and brings your soul happiness with each touch of vibrato and the
gentle harmonizing between she and Laurie and you not only end up with a
horribly written run-on sentence, but also some of the strongest and most
beautiful vocals recorded these days. (Seriously terribly written sentence. I
apologise.)
All that said this second album has taken its place on top
of my favourite albums list alongside “Let Them Talk.” Adding in the vocal mastery of Gaby Moreno has taken the band to an entirely new level. The harmonies are crisp and exact and the soul is deeper. The pairing between she and Sista Jean is one that leads you to listen to mouth-gaped, mimicking a dumbfounded goldfish. Truly wonderful.
On a side-note, ever since I changed my ringtone to “Wild
Honey” I find I answer my phone much less often because I’d rather listen to
the song than talk on the phone any day! God I love that song.
·
“Didn’t it Rain” encompassed all of my favourite
parts of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s version and picked up the pieces of The Blind
Boys from Alabama’s take and started me clapping while in the car...which I
don’t recommend if you’re driving...or on a motorcycle...
·
“Junco Partner”.....I don’t have the words of
how to put my happiness and smile down on the page. You did Professor Longhair
proud. I’ve loved this song since I first heard it countless years ago. It’s
nothing but fun and bliss.
·
“Staggalee” it’s like you took the list of my
all-time favourite songs and are just going down the line crossing them off one
at a time. Whether it’s Taj Mahal, Lloyd Price or Mississippi John Hurt, I have
loved, danced and listened to this song over and over since my Dad first played
it for me on the car stereo when I was 5.
I could go through song by song and tell you why you should
listen, and what makes each recording great. For now, just get this album (and the first one), turn the volume up, lean
back, close your eyes and allow yourself to escape into the greatest
music/songs this country has ever produced.
Thank you Hugh Laurie and The Copper Bottom Band for keeping
the blues alive.
© 2013 Kara Nelson
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