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EDDIE WALKER & FRASER SPEIRS - Red Shoes & Blues

EDDIE WALKER & FRASER SPEIRS - Red Shoes & Blues
Ragged Records RAGRCD008

Many of you are familiar with Eddie Walker’s solo folk club appearances, but his collaborations with John James and with Fraser Speirs, separately, are legendary, and the latter is celebrated in style on this hour long CD of songs and tunes. Fraser Speirs is easily the most sought after harmonica player in Scotland and the partnership developed on this album displays a musical chemistry that is seldom recorded so consistently. Eddie’s blues picking is rock steady throughout and Fraser’s harmonica playing weaves in and out, populating the arrangements with an authentic blues harp backing that complements the former incredibly well.

The version of Delia’s Gone is both delicate and haunting, and along with standards from Eddie’s more recent live sets, such as It Doesn’t Matter Any More and Kinda Weary Blues, the listener is given a real treat here.

Red Shoes On My Feet, despite the title reminding us of a classic EW tape from years back, (taken from a line in Richland Women Blues) is actually a homage to Eddie’s passion for Strictly Come Dancing – and deserves to be its new theme tune. I’m not sure if their current individual commitments will permit more live appearances, but I sincerely hope so. The pair nail James Sylvester Scott’s Calliope Rag, the only instrumental piece, which is the perfect choice to reprise the CD. This is the best of blues picking and harp together, in a nutshell. A total cracker guys.

www.eddiewalker.net

Grem Devlin

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This album was reviewed in Issue 108 of The Living Tradition magazine.