Grant Dermody's "Crossing that River"

["Bob McGraw" <rmcgraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

One of the more under recognized harp players working today is
Seattle,Washington's Grant Dermody.I was lucky enough to get the chance to
take his class last summer at Blues Week in Elkins,West Virginia...in
addition to being a wonderful player,Grant is a great guy.

Anyway,  I want to recommend his "Crossing that River" to all my fellow
harp-lers...this is one very fine CD,not "just" a harp record.It really is
one of the best records recorded by a harp player that I've heard in some
time...it's a mix of blues,old-time,folk,and even jazz...not really a blues
record at all,though there is some dynamite blues harp on it.The tunes
include several fine originals by Grant,who is a pretty damn good singer,by
the way.

As I write these words I'm listening to the 6th cut on the CD;it's a moody
instrumental called "It's Allright"[one of the originals] and Grant plays
some gorgeous Dm chromatic,though not in the usual George Smith
style...[don't flame me folks;I LOVE the usual George Smith style]...before
that we had  a blues by Joe Louis Walker called
"I'll Get to Heaven On My Own;" next Grant and Joe Filisko duet on the
gospel "I'm Gonna Cross That River of Jordan[Some of These Days]."

And now I'm listening to  another really cool instrumental called "The
Leeward Side"...

Folks,this is a fine record and it needs to be heard...some of the guests on
it include the aforementioned Joe Filisko,the great Phil Wiggins[on the harp
duet "Anacostia Two-Step"] and his partner John Cephas[[on "Look at the
People Standing  at the Judgment"]...I'm an unabashed fan of Grant's playing
and of this record.If you buy it I'll be surprised if you don't become
one,too...you can get copies from  cdbaby.com or you can order them directly
from Grant at gdermody@xxxxxxxxx .

As for my financial stake here...well,the truth is I get $500 for every CD
sold ;-)  Obviously,I get nothing out of you buying this CD save the
satisfaction of knowing that some very good music is being heard...hope
you'll buy this one.
WVa Bob
P.S.My review really doesn't do justice to the stylistic variety on this
CD...