Search - Laurie Lewis :: Restless Rambling Heart

Wonderful Contribution to my musical library.

12/30/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Restless Ramblin' Heart is a truly wonderful recording, although that is no surprise, coming from Ms. Lewis, whose creativity, talent, and musicianship are par excellence. Listen to Laurie's fiddle break on the title track. Listen to it again, paying attention to the double-stops. Man, how does she do that? Maple's Lament brings tears to this grown man's eyes; her wonderful imagery and the haunting hardingfele, along with the usual superb voice, are a true work of art. If your foot doesn't stomp big-time on I'm Gonna Be The Wind, you just might have a fuse missing. And Haven of Mercy rounds out the recording with a beautiful testament to the healing powers of the natural world, as Laurie states (more or less) in the liner notes.As with much of Laurie's music, it's hard to pigeon-hole; all eleven tracks are quite unique. It's somewhere between progressive bluegrass, folk, acoustic (non-commercial) country, americana, etc. If you're unitiated with Ms. Lewis's music, this, her first solo release, is a great place to start. Enjoy!"

A wonderful contribution to the music!

Tony Thomas | SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA | 03/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Laurie's really an instrumentally gifted continuator of the California country folk music most excellently done by the author of the title song the great Kate Wolf. Laurie is so much classier, more honest, and direct and a better tighter leader and musician.Her musicianship is on the top track of first rate. People tend to forget that she is a former California State Fiddling Champion, and there are some great fiddlers out in California. Of course, this isn't what I desire if I am buying a bluegrass album for my bluegrass taste. She doesn't do for me what Lester and Earl or Tony Rice and Sam Bush or what the Original Country Gentlman do. Nor should she, or does she have to to make a wonderful contribution to the music.She's also got very specific tastes in her arrangements and the way her bands play the music. A lot of bluegrassers could learn to project the song the way Laurie does. She's rare because so many of the people who attempt to make this music are really folkie wannabe's who don't have the chops to do real bluegrass or the brains to streamline things. A lot of bluegrassers ought to list to Laurie's bluegrass tracks because I think she is good at streamling away the 10 thousandth mediocre bluegrass break on fiddle or banjo that sounds like 10thousand others and doesn't add to the track or the music.The album is led and produced, the songs are arranged to put the singing first, and the singing is almost always non bluegrass and the band isn't particularly bluegrass here. The songs are put first. The star of this record is Laurie's great clear and expressive singing, her and other's song. Laurie's playing here on guitar, banjo, and fiddle great here and the sidemen and women she brings onto this CD as guests are superb. You buy it for the singing and the songs.In a certain way, Laurie has used the tools of bluegrass and other forms of older country music and folk to express herself in her own songs and in a very good selection of songwriter songs and traditional tunes. She's not trying to replace Kenny Baker or masquerade as Hazel Dickens. She's also speaking to a lot of reality. And Laurie keeps singing, keeps picking, keeps doing it better and better too!"