Swingbilly Blues

Swingbilly Blues

Editorial Reviews
<"b00005tzsc5020"> Asbury Park Press, Jan. 9, 1998
"As cheerful and refreshing as a glass of just-squeezed orange juice."

<"b00005tzsc2999"> About the Artist
So how did a nice suburban kid from Toronto, Canada, get mixed up with the music of the U.S. southland? “This music is my religion," Mike Barris says. “I have a very strong, primal connection to this music.” Barris, who now calls New Jersey home, is the guitarist and leader of Mike Barris & Delta Sunrise, an acoustic roots and swing-blues trio that plays on the CD, Swingbilly Blues. Barris’ guitar style, arrangements and original songs blend jazz, blues, country, western... read more

<"b00005tzsc4999"> Album Description
This is a rollicking good album of roots-swing music played unpretentiously by acoustic guitar, upright bass, snare drum and bongos. Think of Hank Williams colliding with the very early Beatles -- with Les Paul sandwiched somewhere in between -- and you'll have an idea of what Mike Barris & Delta Sunrise sound like. Running the gamut of roots-music styles, from bluegrass to blues, rockabilly to skiffle, western swing to Cajun, the band does surprising covers of classic songs (Steppin' Out With My Baby becomes a bluesy campfire song, for example; Home On The Range gets new life as a rhumba), as well as lively originals like Talkin' Turnpike Blues, a kind of rap-swing ode to life in the not-so-fast lane of the New Jersey Turnpike. Adding to the organic flavor of the CD is the fact that the performances were recorded live in the studio, with no overdubbing. Yet the band sounds extremely full, as if it were staffed by an additional three musicians. To the music hist! orian, this guitar-oriented record might be appealing as a tribute to the legacies of Doc Watson, Chet Atkins, Little Walter, Count Basie and a host of others. But for simple music lovers, it's just wonderfully breezy and fun. "Nutritious, loaded with the multi-grain goodness of country, swing, rockabilly, blues and coffeehouse jazz." (Asbury Park Press)