Gerry Cooper & Phil Snell
Album: Winding Boy and Other Tall Tales
Label: Limbo
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.philsnell.co.uk/gerryandphil.aspx

Following hot on the heels of Gerry Cooper's excellent 'solo' CD 'Follow The River' (which actually featured Phil Snell and several other musicians) comes this album which, although recorded in the studio, gives, as intended, an accurate impression of the duo's live sound.

First impressions are very positive even before getting to the music as image on the front cover of the CD is striking with its dramatic linocut imagery.

On listening, the first thing that makes an impact, apart from the clarity of the recording, is that the interplay between Gerry's variety of guitars and harmonica and Phil's guitar, mandolin and fiddle is caught perfectly with the stereo separation between the artists very well judged indeed. According to the publicity sheet for the CD the hardest decision the duo had to make was deciding which songs to include from their wide repetoire. To me it seems that they have judged it just right as there is an ideal mix of material covering a wide range of ragtime, jugband and country blues styles with traditional material accompaning songs by such legends as Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake. Vocal duties are shared but with Gerry taking the lead on most tracks and this makes sense as he has a stronger and more authentic blues voice.

Despite the complexity of some of the playing they never miss a beat and I found my foot tapping throughout - a good sign!

As I confessed during my review of Gerry's earlier CD acoustic blues is not one of my favourite genres to listen to on CD but when its done as well as this such thoughts seem almost sacrilegious!

Joe Grint