Search - J.P. Cormier :: Heart and Soul

No one should be allowed to have this much talent

03/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard J.P. Cormier on a sampler disc where I was astounded by his guitar playing. I later walked into a store in Nova Scotia and was stopped dead in my tracks by some incredible fiddle playing on the sound system. "Who's that?," I asked. "J.P. Cormier" was the reply. Of course, I had to buy this album. I put it on the player and heard some amazing banjo work. I looked at the credits. Yep, J.P. again. And mandolin. And piano. And bass. If you buy "Another Morning" you'll also find he's an excellent singer and a fine songwriter as well. He's even a better lyricist than most songwriters who aren't world-class instrumental virtuosos. But this album's entirely instrumental. It's not, strictly, Cape Breton-style playing, though the influence is obvious and deep. His fiddle work has a warmer, more lyrical tone with more vibrato than heard in the classic Cape Breton style, and the years spent in Nashville had their effect. Listen, for example, to the Chet Atkins-style finger picking on "Fleetwood MacInnis," a reworking of Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" with a traditional Scottish tune. Try "Rawhide," where he overdubs himself as an entire bluegrass band. And for sheer, straight-ahead breakneck "I can't believe that can be done with only ten fingers" fiddle playing, check out "Tulloch Gorum."Wow."