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Piedmont finger-style folk-blues acoustic guitarist Shelton Powe debuted on record with 2012\u2019s Carolina Blues and Gospel<\/i>. He returned with 2016\u2019s Black Folk Music (God is Good)<\/i>. On his third and self-titled release, the Atlanta-based musician continues his focus on Carolina blues.<\/p>\n
While Powe\u2019s 2016 set featured a song list that touched on religious and devotional themes, on his third outing the guitarist-singer widens his scope. Songs about trains \u2013 Amtrak Train<\/i> and Railroad Bill<\/i> bookend the set, but in between, he sings about a variety of other topics.<\/p>\n
The production is spare in the extreme. It\u2019s just Powe\u2019s voice and acoustic guitar; there are no effects \u2013 no reverb, no echo \u2013 nothing, really, other than the sounds he creates in real-time. Other than improved microphone technology, there\u2019s absolutely nothing about the recording of Shelton Powe<\/i> that sets it apart from Robert Johnson\u2019s hotel room sessions in San Antonio, Texas in 1936. And that\u2019s as it should be for an artist of his style.<\/p>\n
The sonic quality of Powe\u2019s guitar does offer a pleasing variety, though. His reading of Salt Peanuts<\/i> features a tinny, droning resonator guitar; the one-chord tune is hypnotic. And there\u2019s a disarming looseness to the performance that\u2019s positively endearing.<\/p>\n
The religious themes of the first album return with \u201cSince I Laid My Burden Down.\u201d Powe resists any inclination he might have to update or otherwise modernize the song; it sounds much the same as it would have many decades ago. \u201cShe Doesn\u2019t Care About Me (But She Love that Cocaine)\u201d is a good-natured treatment of love\u2019s frustrations. Powe mines the subtlety of his vocal instrument with the contemplative \u201cGive Me Two Wings\u201d; the song features a bit of foot-stomping and quiet picking.<\/p>\n
The all-instrumental One Dime Blues showcases the skill and finesse of Powe\u2019s guitar work. \u201cShake \u2018Em On Down\u201d underscores Powe\u2019s connection to his adopted home; it\u2019s a tale of girl from Cabbagetown, one of Atlanta\u2019s most historically significant neighborhoods. He sings in a near whisper, and that approach draws the listener deeper into the performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake a Walk in the Park\u201d is almost jaunty; only Powe\u2019s restrained approach to the song keeps it from turning into a sprightly, upbeat blues. His vocal line closely follows the guitar melody, creating a kind of duet feel. \u201cWhere Shall I Be\u201d is very much in a gospel blues vein; the guitar\u2019s sonority is heightened by Powe\u2019s decision to play a lead line that explores the instrument’s lowest register.<\/p>\n
The audio-verit\u00e9 quality of Powe\u2019s self-titled album is such that one might expect him to break into a monologue \u2013 or extemporaneous chit-chat \u2013 between songs. But that doesn\u2019t happen; the set focuses tightly on fourteen pieces of music. Whether the songs are traditional pieces arranged by the guitarist or original songs in that same style, there\u2019s a consistency of approach that gives the album the feel of an intimate house concert with an audience of one: the listener.<\/p>\n
Deeply rooted in tradition, Shelton Powe<\/i> makes no concessions to modernity; it\u2019s an authentic set of Piedmont blues performances that are as timeless as they are engaging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Piedmont finger-style folk-blues acoustic guitarist Shelton Powe debuted on record with 2012\u2019s Carolina Blues and Gospel. He returned with 2016\u2019s Black Folk Music (God is Good). On his third and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5017],"class_list":["post-24477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-shelton-powe","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24479,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24477\/revisions\/24479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}