Cascade Blues Music Reviews Going Home Out of the Blues Box Dave Harris Music Review Index

Music Review Reprint from the
November, 2001 BluesNotes
By David L. Moore

    Dave Harris passed through town recently and left a copy of "Going Home" for review.  By a lucky chain of coincidences, it found its way to me.  Otherwise, I would have remained unaware of one of the "Blues Masters of the Pacific Northwest".

    On this CD, Harris is recorded as a "one man band", singing, playing a collection of acoustic, steel body, and electric guitars, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and foot operated drums.  All the tracks are done "live" in the studio. No overdubbing is used.

    Dave Harris is a scholar of Blues tradition. His liner notes carefully reference all the Blues Masters he is emulating. This approach can lead to rather dry results. The playing can sound like the master, but lack the emotional and personal content. On this CD, however, the wit, humor and sheer exuberance of the performer shines through.

    Dave (aka "Slim") starts us off with "Slim's Train Song". Like most of the tracks, this is an original song, but with strong traditional references. Dave credits Josh White's, "No 12 Train", Leadbelly's, "Rock Island Line" and Junior Parker's, "Mystery Train", as models. With Dave as engineer and fireman, we are soon hurtling down the tracks under a full head of steam.

    "I'm Leaving", a tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell, the steel body guitar instrumental, "Sunday Morning", and "Going Home", inspired by Pop Staples and Skip James, relax the pace, but not the playing. Again, picking up the pace and harmonica, "The Gambling Blues". is the lament in traditional form, of a gambler who can never manage to hang on to his winnings.

    On "True Friends", influenced by Robert Nighthawk, and "The Long Hair Blues Medley", Dave picks up the electric guitar and showcases his harmonica playing, then finishes the second number with a duet on harmonica and fiddle. All the time, accompanying himself on foot-operated percussion. "I Never Felt Like This Before" and "Slavedriver Slim" rounds out this multi-instrumental tour-de-force.

    The CD continues with Dave's version of Henry Townsend's "The Tears Came Rolling Down ", "The Mandolin Boogie", a tribute to the Mandolin Blues players of the past, "I Hate To Leave My Baby" in the style of Leroy Carr, "Holes In My Shoes", influenced by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie McCoy and Henry Thomas, in which Dave demonstrates his command of the falsetto range, popularized by Alan Wilson of Canned Heat. "Gone, Long Gone", Junior Parker's, "Feelin' Good", and a novelty, "Fixtures and Knobs" finishes off the CD in upbeat fashion.

    Dave's new CD, "Out Of The Blues Box", once again features Dave as a one-man band and again starts with a train song. (this is getting to be a tradition); Herman "Jr." Parker's, "Mystery Train". It continues with a song that captures the style of Professor Longhair. I think if Professor Longhair were still with us to hear this, he would ask to sit in.

    The "blues box" of the title, judging by the photo on the sleeve notes, is a one octave diatonic pedal clavier with each pedal attached to a hammer that strikes an individual string, as in a piano. Like the "blues box" itself, this CD is entirely acoustic and is representative of the music you might hear Dave Harris play on the causeway at Victoria, B.C.'s Inner Harbor.  Like "Going Home", the first 15 tracks on this CD are recorded "live in the studio" with no overdubs and are a mixture of songs penned by Dave and traditional Blues songs.  The last three are recorded live. "Crowded At The Bottom", Dave's best known tune and the title of a soon to be seen documentary, was actually recorded on the causeway while "Going To Chicago" and "Fiddle Boogie" are taken from live performances. These live tracks round out the CD in splendid fashion.

    Like many excellent artists here in the Northwest, Dave's CDs are not exactly thick on the shelves of your local Borders. If you do run across one in your local music store, snap it up. Rather than trusting to blind luck, or Dave's occasional visits to Portland, I would recommend that you go to the trouble of sending $12 to the artist at the address below for a copy of "Going Home".  This CD should be found in every Blues collection.  Better still, lash out and get both for $27.  These two CDs together are a compelling record of a unique performer in the Pacific Northwest.

    If you are in Victoria (British Columbia), you may be lucky enough to find Dave playing a gig. Or, if you're luck is really in, you may find him bucking on the causeway. Take a moment to listen, and be sure to make known your appreciation in the traditional form.

Slim Chance Records
2926 Millgrove St
Victoria BC,
Canada V9A 1X3
Phone/Fax (250)384-0236
slimchance@altavista.com

© 2001 Cascade Blues Association