Dharma Blues

Last updated
Dharma Blues
Dharmablues.jpg
Studio album by Peter Lang
Released February 19, 2002
Genre Blues, folk
Length50:17
Label Horus
Producer Peter Lang
Peter Lang chronology
American Stock
(1986)
Dharma Blues
(2002)
Guitar
(2003)

Dharma Blues is the title of a recording by American folk and blues guitarist Peter Lang, released in 2002.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Folk music musical and poetic creativity of the people

Folk music includes traditional folk music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers, or music performed by custom over a long period of time. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. The term originated in the 19th century, but folk music extends beyond that.

Blues is a music genre and musical form which was originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1870s by African Americans from roots in African musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, and the folk music of white Americans of European heritage. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the blues scale and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes, usually thirds or fifths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove.

Contents

History

Dharma Blues was Lang's first release since his 1986 American Stock. Lang's first solo album, The Thing at the Nursery Room Window was released in 1972 on Takoma Records. Along with Lang, John Fahey launched the careers of other notable artists on Takoma, including Leo Kottke. Lang had toured and recorded for nearly ten years before leaving the business.

<i>The Thing at the Nursery Room Window</i> 1973 studio album by Peter Lang

The Thing at the Nursery Room Window is the title of the debut recording by American folk and blues guitarist Peter Lang, released in 1973. It was reissued in 2000 with three bonus tracks.

Takoma Records

Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. It was named after Fahey's hometown, Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

John Fahey (musician) 1939–2001; American fingerstyle guitarist

John Aloysius Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitive Guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.

In his liner notes for Dharma Blues, Lang states "I had distanced myself from the music business for many years, but never the music. Dogs howl, people play music. When the moon is full, I howl."

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Allmusic reviewer Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. states in his review that Dharma Blues "pretty much picks up where Lang and his fellow pickers left off in the 1970s. Unlike Fahey or, say, Robbie Basho, however, Lang's fingerpicking seldom uses dissonance or shows the influence of Eastern music... Most of the pieces on Dharma Blues are self-penned and have enough bite to keep them from falling into new age sameness." [1]

Track listing

All songs by Peter Lang except "Poor Boy" by John Fahey and Bukka White and "Guitar Rag" by Sylvester Weaver.

"Poor Boy Blues" or "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home" is a traditional blues song of unknown origin. As with most traditional blues songs, there is great variation in the melody and lyrical content as performed by different artists. However, there is often a core verse containing some variation of the line "I'm a poor boy a long way from home." The song is often associated with a slide guitar accompaniment. Gus Cannon recalled hearing a slide guitarist named Alec or Alex Lee in Coahoma County around 1900, playing a version of the song. Cannon himself, under the pseudonym Banjo Joe, later recorded the song.

Bukka White American Delta blues guitarist and singer

Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White was an African-American Delta blues guitarist and singer. Bukka is a phonetic spelling of White's first name; he was named after the well-known African-American educator and civil rights activist Booker T. Washington.

Sylvester Weaver (musician) American country blues guitarist

Sylvester Weaver was an American blues guitar player and a pioneer of country blues. Birth and death dates come from 1900 federal census, Louisville, KY, ward 2, district 0020, sheet 4, line 40 and Weaver's death certificate respectively. The census record has the 1896 and the death certificate has the 1897 birth date.

  1. "Thicker Than Wicker" - 3:28
  2. "Walter's Wings" - 2:12
  3. "Variations on Lampe" - 2:05
  4. "Lost on Chainbridge Road" - 2:42
  5. "Poor Boy/Guitar Rag" - 2:22
  6. "Halloween Blues" - 3:17
  7. "Big Mo's Habenero" - 2:02
  8. "Spanish Fandango" - 3:05
  9. "Dogs Howl" - 9:32
  10. "Evangeline's Moon" - 3:18
  11. "Itasca" - 5:13
  12. "Dharma Blues" - 11:01

Personnel

Production notes:

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References

  1. 1 2 Lankford, Jr., Ronnie D. "Dharma Blues > Review". Allmusic . Retrieved June 22, 2011.