Search - ed Miller :: Generations of Change

Great collection of folk music

R. Kyle | USA | 07/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ed Miller's got a talent for bringing the best together in Austin to make his CDs. This one's no exception.



Irish soprano, Cathie Ryan, sings on tracks 1 and 11. Rich Brotherton, who also plays for Robert Earl Keen, plays guitar and strings. Of course, Brian McNeill, formerly of the Battlefield Band, is there as well as many other notables.



There's a lot of great story songs on this CD. "Yellow on the Broom" talks about the traveling folk of Scotland.



"Blood on the Grass" is an Adam McNaughtan song that talks about the protest over the Scottish Football Association playing at Santiago Stadium, Chile. One verse is a heart-stabber:



Victor Jara played guitar

As he was led into the ground

Then they broke all of his fingers

So his strings no more could sound

Still he kept on singing

Songs of freedom, songs of peace

And though they gunned him down

His message doesn't cease

And there's blood upon the grass

And there's blood upon the grass



Some of this material has been covered by Ed before, but the superlative musicianship on this CD makes it a worthwhile buy if you like his music and his sound. Burns' "A Man's a Man" is probably the best done cover of this lovely poem."