Mark Harrison
Album: Crooked Smile
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.markharrisonrootsmusic.com

Since 2010, Mark's been making a name for himself on the London music scene with his own personal brand of bluesy-folk-styled songwriting, and his debut album Watching The Parade was by all accounts very well received. If it's anything like as tasty as the followup, Crooked Smile, then it'll be worth my backtracking on - but for the moment let's stick with Crooked Smile.

It's a collection of pretty individual, though timeless-sounding, self-penned songs that largely comprise sanguine, often significantly wry philosophical observations on contemporary life. In that his songs deal with contemporary issues while stylistically rooted in the classic blues of the 30s, Mark's writing reminds me quite a bit of Ry Cooder, albeit without the same extent of political edge - and his unpretentious, relaxed, intelligently rootsy small-band-acoustic musical settings do the biz very nicely indeed, centred round Mark's own adept National resonator and 12-string guitar work, with intuitive support from Ryan Carr's ringing mandolin, Will Greener's harmonica and the busy rhythm section of Charles Benfield and Ed Hopwood, and all credibly balanced with due presence and immediacy.

The raw, old-school-roots feel of the whole set is very appealing, and it's easy to see why Mark's music has been so popular with audiences of different persuasions, not just blues fans. His singing has an appealingly conversational tone (which suits the gently thought-provoking or smile-inducing nature of his lyrics), and is easy to get along with, although its impact is sometimes offset by the backing vocal work of Josienne Clarke (a touch rough-and-ready, but ok, that impression may be due to the recording).

Mark's songs invariably have a twist in the form of a canny message, and they're invariably reflective too; occasionally slightly preachy perhaps, but in those cases redeemably tongue-in-cheek. Best examples are where reminiscence crosses with resolution, as on Crematorium Blues, Pearly Gates and Bombs Coming Down, while Mark's "character songs" (Georgia Greene, Smiler John, The Original Dawg and the rollicking Honeyboy) are also authentically charged and believable - and memorable too. Nice one, Mark!

David Kidman