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Norman Blake

Live at Mccabe's

Live at Mccabe's Tracks
1. Introduction By Nancy Covey
2. Nine Pound Hammer
3. Sweet Heaven When I Die
4. Introducing Nancy Blake
5. Border Widow
6. 'G' Medley: Green Leaf Fancy/Fields Of November/Fort Smith
7. Dry Grass On The High Fields
8. John Hardy
9. Arkansas Traveler
10. Medley: Bully Of The Town/Bonaparte's Retreat/Richland Avenue Rag
11. Harvey's Reel
Norman Blake - Live at Mccabe's
Live at Mccabe's Review
Records like this one explain why Norman Blake fanatics usually creep up to the side of the stage just to get a glimpse of Blake's fingers in action. Apparently, most of those fanatics belong to the Flatpick-L Internet mailing list, because this reissue was actually inspired by an intense Flatpick-L e-mail campaign! As his career progressed, Blake tended to de-emphasize his incredible flat-picking prowess, but on this 1976 date at the famed Santa Monica venue (Blake's first-ever West Coast appearance), he gives the people exactly what they want. Just when you think the master can't top his last chorus, he does just that with an incredible arsenal of rippling runs. Wife (now ex-wife) Nancy joins him for a few stately guitar-cello duets, but it's the solo-guitar pieces that truly amaze. Those Net geeks sure know how to pick 'em! --Marc Greilsamer


Users's Reviews
Feel free to add your comments about Live at Mccabe's
A super performance
5
This live performance recording of Norman Blake, solo and with his ex-wife Nancy, should be essential to your collection of acoustic recordings. This is vintage Norman, captured in an intimate setting almost 25 years ago, just being himself. The recording quality is excellent for a live performance, the between-songs banter is preserved and adds to the laid-back ambience, and the picking is superb. The mix of traditional and original songs melds perfectly. If you haven't had a chance to see Norman live, this is as close as it gets. Highly recommended for old-time, bluegrass, and acoustic music lovers.
Posted by Anonymous, on 1999-09-03
One of the finest flatpicking albums ever
5
This album is up in the rarified air of the very finest flatpicking albums ever recorded; in the same class as Dan Crary's "Guitar" or "Doc Watson On Stage". The playing is sensational, unbelievable. This is Norman Blake with flatpicking as his primary interest, unlike later material which focused on ensembles and then on recreating old time music. The musicianship is dizzying; experimental, vibrant, flashy, lyrical, audacious; it doesn't have the polish of a studio album, but has a wonderful live ambience. It is astonishing what a real master can do with well-known material. This album will rightly be one of the standards by which flatpicking is measured.
Posted by Anonymous, on 1999-09-21
Long ago but still fresh
5
I was in the audience the night of this performance, and I've owned the vinyl version for, holy cow, has it been twenty-five years? It is by far my favorite recording of Norman Blake's, simply because of the warmth that can come only from a live performance. With his wife accompanying him on cello, every note filled the little room with a clarity at once deep and sharp. Beautiful. Inspiring. If you get only one Norman Blake CD, get this one.
Posted by Anonymous, on 2004-04-03

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