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| National Steel[Acoustic Blues, Duo] | |
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National Steel - the name says it all!
This is a duo which combines the outstanding bottleneck, lap steel and finger-picking talents of Lewis Cohen (of the Jumpsters and the Kickback) and Stuart 'Marshcat' Cumberpatch (of Delta Echoes and formerly the Kennet Sheiks) to re-create the masterpieces of the golden age of acoustic blues.
The duo play a stunning collection of the vintage guitars featured on so many 1920s and 1930s 78 rpm records. If there's anything which sounds better than the blues played on a vintage National guitar, it's the blues played on two of them!
Their gigs are a great opportunity to hear the authentic sounds of the Mississippi Delta - with numbers by Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Fred McDowell and Bukka White, for example.
National Steel's repertoire also includes numbers from bluesmen and gospel singers representing other regional styles - Tampa Red, Blind Willie Johnson, Little Hat Jones and Ramblin' Thomas, to name but a few.
The duo's eponymous CD is available at gigs and from www.bluescdstore.com.  Here's a recent review: Unicorn Folk Magazine January 2010: Do you have to be black American to sing and play the blues? Certainly not - but take it from one who occasionally tries, they ain't easy! Consummate skill with rhythms, an ability to sing and play off the beat, almost conversational but precise vocal phrasing and a certain melodic rawness all help. Lewis has all these, plus Stuart's skilful and inventive slide playing, to illustrate many different blues styles. The variety in these 13 songs will surprise many - from the gospel of 'Bye and Bye I'm Gonna see the King' to the atmospheric 'Goin' To Brownsville' and the driving but haunting prison song 'When Can I Change My Clothes'. Robert Johnson's 'From Four Until Late' is superb, with its complex, off-beat rhythm, and Stuart's excellent jazzy slide. Muddy Waters' 'I Be's Troubled' is brilliantly done - a pacey, almost talking blues with intertwining slide guitars. The final song, by Fred McDowell, is the hard-driving 'Shake 'Em On Down', that reminded me of Howlin' Wolf's 'Smokestack Lightning'. The patent for the National Steel resonator guitar of the title was filed in 1930 by George D. Beauchamp, and the fact that Lewis and Stuart play originals from the period only adds to the enviable authenticity of this fine album.
You can see National Steel and Angelina Grimshaw on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qhH-STYDig
Forthcoming gigs (3 of 3 total): Mon 6th Sep: The Rose & Crown, St Albans... Sun 12th Sep: The Duke of Marlborough, St Albans... Thu 23rd Sep: The Retreat, Reading
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| Contact Details | |
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| More Information | |
 Available for private parties | Own PA |
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| This band/artist page is jointly maintained by Lemonrock and Stuart (Band/Artist Member). |
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| Page last updated 16 January 10, gig/event details last updated 9 August 10. |
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| Page first created on Lemonrock 27 July 08. |
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