[Harp-L] Peter Ruth's Harmonica and Ukelele Project

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

P.T. Gazelle recently posted to these lists about Peter "Madcat" Ruth's new Harmonica and Ukelele Project CD.  I had the rare luxury of listening to this CD end to end without interruption on a long drive yesterday, and I want to add my comments to P.T.'s.

I'll get right to the point: this record is a masterpiece.  It's one of the very best independent releases featuring harmonica that I've heard, fully on a par in conception and execution with, say, James Conway's brilliant recording of Irish music from a couple of years ago, or Clint Hoover's "Dream of the Serpent Dog" jazz CD.  The recording has great depth, an utterly professional mix, and arrangements that thoroughly reflect traditional folk roots and modern electric sounds, all at once.  The CD is a virtual catalog of post-Chicago blues electric harmonica sounds -- the harp sounds and blends are simply awesome, an unbeatable primer on how to layer harp tones for maximum impact.  It's a "folk" record for the early 21st century. 

When I saw the word "ukelele" in the CD title I frankly had my doubts, but the ukelele sounds terrific, adding guitar-like sounds and rhythms without overwhelming the harp.  It's an inspired combination, and it's obviously inspired Ruth to do some of his very best work.  The singing is very emotional and affecting, even if Ruth's voice isn't conventionally "beautiful" in the same sense as, say, Bono's.  Additional accompaniment from various percussion instruments adds depth and drive to the arrangements wihtout overwhelming them.

I first heard Peter Ruth's work about 25 years ago in the form of a bootleg cassette recording of his blistering live SPAH performance of an instrumental version of Little Walter's "Too Late".  I was so impressed with his playing on that tape that I called Peter to ask if I could steal some of his licks for my own solo recording of the piece in 1994 on my CD "The Act of Being Free in One Act" (kind of like Bela Bartok asking Henry Cowell for permission to use his piano tone clusters...).  The 14 performances on Peter's new CD have that same brilliant, thrilling quality -- amazing stuff keeps coming at you, track after track.  

You can find out more about this CD at http://www.madcatmusic.net/news.html.  No one who cares about harmonica should miss this release.     

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com